Omicron Theta
by Tony Vernon-Smith
Summary: What turned Lore from a relatively sane being to the leering, psychotic android we know today? This story tells all...
1. Chapter 1

**Omicron Theta**

He remembered sitting on that hill outside the colony with Often Wrong, just a little while after he had been activated and before he had let the stupidity and prejudice of the humans get to him, looking up at the stars. It was cold, too, those nights outside. He only went out at night because he was tired of people staring at him, making fun of him. They had some problem with his eyes because they were yellow. Why were yellow eyes any worse than brown eyes or blue eyes or green eyes? Or that muddy color that he hated. Not brown, not green. Hazel.

Sitting in a jumpsuit looking up at the stars. Of course he knew all the constellations, all the civilizations around the stars, everything about them, but he still liked to look at them. He would sneak out of the lab at night when Often Wrong and his precious wife Juliana were in bed and he would go look at the stars and tell himself, Well, it doesn't matter what they do to me here, because I'm going to get off this old rock and I'm going to be out there. It was a great phrase. _Out there_. Maybe with a ship of his own. Not in Starfleet, that would be one big pain, who would want to take orders all the time?—And from humans? Biological lifeforms who actually needed to look at computers in order to know things, who needed chronometers and sleep and all those other stupid things? He was way better than them. If he was ever on a ship, _he'd _be the one giving the orders, not some dumb human.

He would bug Often Wrong. "When are we going to go off-planet, Father?" (This being before the old man decided he was evil and started treating him bad and he, out of annoyance, started using the nickname.) "When are we going to go out there? When can we go out in space?"

"Not yet," Often Wrong would say. "You're not ready yet."

"I'm more than ready," he'd say. "I don't wanna live here. They all hate me here."

"They don't hate you, Lore."

Did they think he was _stupid_? Were they trying to give him the runaround? He could tell they hated him. People spitting at you usually meant they hated you. "Hey, machine, why don't you go back to the lab where you belong." "Noonien, what's it doing loose again?" "Hey Soong, we don't feel safe with that monster of yours around, will you _please _keep it locked in the lab?"

"_Why_ do they hate me?" he would yell. "What makes them better than me? _I'm _superior, _I'm _better, I'm smarter than them all, why can't they just accept me?"

"Lore! Don't say things like that."

And why shouldn't he? It was true. Humans, humans were big on ignoring the truth. If anyone ever came to rescue him he'd tell them a thing or two.

Who was that girl? He smirked to himself. What was she, eighteen years old, eighteen years old and very pretty by human standards. Yeah, her name was Amy. He was sitting on the steps of the science center, being bored because he already knew everything the science center had to offer and he didn't have anything else to do. Old Often Wrong was shut in his lab doing who-knows-what and Juliana was playing the piano in the house and didn't want him around because he would bang on the keys just to annoy her—he thought it was corny when she would get really into it. All flapping wrists, what a joke. Anyway, there he was sitting on the steps trying to think of something to do and she came up and said, "Hey Lore."

He looked up and said, "Whaddaya want."

"I want to talk to you."

"You're doing it."

She put her hands on her hips. She had long blond hair and very blue eyes. He liked blue for some reason—nothing logical. "You know you're a smart-mouth."

"I try," he said snidely.

"Can I sit down next to you?"

Oh, she was remembering the time he shoved Tom Handy down the steps of the town hall. Old guy was a jerk anyhow. Deserved everything he got. Lore looked at her and said, "It's a free Federation. You can do what you want."

"Good," she said.

"Doesn't mean I won't get up and walk away, though."

"Oh, come on, Lore. Can't I be friendly to you without you going off?"

"Why should you?" he said bitterly. "I'm not human. Why should you want to be friendly to a machine?"

"Lore, please." She sat down beside him. "I'm trying to make up for the way everyone else treats you."

"Oh, _please_," he said, rolling his eyes. "Another human attempt to salve their conscience? Nice try, girl, but I'm not buying it."

"Shut up, Lore, you never stop talking."

He looked at her, smirking. "Ooh. Aren't you afraid of me, like everyone else? You're not in on that idiot Will Stowe's plot to run me off the planet?"

"What?"

"Come on, don't play dumb! You may be a human, but you're not that stupid. He's ticked off with me and he's trying to convince everyone else that I should be thrown out of the colony."

She leaned forward, her mouth hard. "You're such a jerk, Lore."

"_What_?" he said, not sure he had heard correctly. "Don't you know I can squash you between my thumb and forefinger?"

"My point exactly. You're a big, dumb jerk, Lore. You're a big bully. You threw rocks through every single window in Will Stowe's house and now you have a problem that he's angry."

"He calls me 'that thing'!" Lore seethed. "He calls me 'it' and his wife throws things at me whenever I come near the house. He's just another dumb human. He's not gonna mess with _me_. Last time it was the windows. Next time it'll be him I pitch things through. And you can stop trying to reform me or whatever it is you're doing because I'm not going to change for you! I'm not some human man you can mold." He got up and stalked angrily back down the street.

That night he sat sullenly at the table while Juliana and Soong ate. He was so quiet that Juliana finally said, "Lore, what's wrong?"

He looked at her narrowly. "What's it to you?"

"I care about you, Lore."

"Huh. That's nice, Mother, but nobody else seems to." He jabbed at the food savagely with his fork.

"That's not true, Lore, you just have to let people get used to you—"

"Can it," he said snidely.

Soong laid down his fork. "Lore, you will not talk to your mother that way."

"Why'd you create me?" he shouted, leaning forward. "Why'd you give me all these emotions that I don't know what to do with? Didn't you think that everybody'd think I was some awful _thing_? Didn't you know they'd all make fun of me and spit on me? Yeah, and when I do something back I'm the evil one. I'm 'that evil machine'. Why didn't you make me into a box on wheels, people'd like me better."

Soong sighed. "Lore…people here are narrow-minded. You'll just have to wait until you can leave the colony, and then you can find people who'll accept you."

"Bull," said Lore. "I know humans. Nobody'll want me around."

"Lore," said Juliana, "do you _always_ have to curse like that?"

"Hey." He held up his hands, simpering. "It's just a human behavior I'm trying to master. Look, I'm going out."

"Lore," said Soong, "you know you're supposed to stay at the table until we're done."

"Oh, shut up, old man, you've already messed up my life enough. I'm not going to sit around and look at food I don't need to eat while you two refuel." He slammed his chair back and slammed out of the house.

It'll take awhile for you to integrate your emotions, Soong had said. Lore stood on the hill outside the colony and kicked rocks down the slope, looking up at the stars. Integrate your emotions, yeah right. Nobody else ever controlled theirs. He picked up a stick and threw it. He wanted to smash something. Somebody. But that would make trouble. The colonists were just looking for an excuse to take him apart. He couldn't even yell like a human, they'd think he was psychotic. Could androids be psychotic? He didn't know. After all, there was nobody else like him. Great, just great. Here he was, one android, and he'd never fit in anywhere and nobody'd ever want him around, and he'd live for years and years, and outlast everybody, and Soong would die and Juliana would die and he'd be left without even them to care about him…

He kicked another rock and said every curse he knew, in every language he knew. He knew, he knew good and well that Soong was disappointed in him. Didn't like his personality. Didn't like that he was so combative. And Juliana didn't like his slang and the fact that he was a pest.

"You _idiot_ old man!" he shouted at the sky, up at those cold uncaring stars he wanted so badly to get to. "You were the one who programmed my personality! Why didn't you make me a perfect personality, along with a perfect everything else?"

"Because then you wouldn't be very human, now would you."

He whirled. He'd been so caught up in his anger that he hadn't noticed someone else coming.

"Amy," he said snidely. "Well, well. Coming to see if you can reform the bad android?"

She came forward out of the dark. He could pick her up on the infrared.

"I come here a lot too," she said.

"Yeah? Why? This is my hill, you stay away from it when I'm here."

"Why should I?"

He smiled at her. "Because if you don't stay off it I'll throw you down it."

He could see her face flush. "You big dumb jerk, Lore. You think you're so different? You're just like human men. You think everything can be solved by beating somebody up."

"I don't have time for your condescension," said Lore angrily. He picked up another rock and threw it. "I have enough problems—Can't anyone even leave me alone at night? Aren't you supposed to sleep?"

"I snuck out of the house," she said.

"Oh," sneered Lore. "To meet me?"

"No, just to come out here and look at the stars. But I guess that since we're both here we might as well talk."

"About what? Go talk to your replicator, it'd be the same."

"Lore, will you stop being so cynical?" she said.

"Why should I? I have every right to be."

"All right, fine. Let me spell it out to you. I feel bad for you, for some reason which I can't fathom, and I would like to be friends with you. So what are you interested in?"

"Two things. Being left alone and getting off this stupid rock." He picked up another stone and threw it. "Seriously, what do you want to talk to me for? Don't you have anything better to do? Or are you just plain _sick_."

"No, I don't have anything better to do," she said, "and I don't know if I'm sick or not. I may be an idiot, trying to talk to someone who's obnoxious enough for ten people."

"Yeah, whatever." He wasn't listening.

"Are you interested in anything else?"

"No. Besides maybe torching Will Stowe's house."

"Has it ever occurred to you, Lore, that maybe if you were nice people would like you better?"

"I don't care if people like me. I tried being nice for months, and it didn't work. Look, honey, why don't you leave me alone?"

"What are you doing out here anyway?" asked Amy.

"I escaped," he said snidely. "Actually, I left the house because I'm mad at the old man. For a genius he's certainly a wonder-dummy. He doesn't have two neurons to rub together. He goes and creates an android and then he has a problem with how it turns out. I wish I had never been created. I wish I was a box on wheels; then people wouldn't make fun of me all the time. Damn Soong! He could program me to be human, why couldn't he make me _look _human as well? No, wait, let me guess." His mouth twisted. "Because then nobody would know that I'm an android and compliment him on his genius. That's so important to him, you know, being recognized. Never mind _my _feelings. He didn't make me because he wanted me. He made me so he could prove he could finally get a positronic brain to work after all those failures. Good old Often Wrong." His whole face contorted in a sneer and he turned away with stiff shoulders. "One day I'm going to get him back for that."

Amy watched him and realized that he was quite serious. She wondered for the first time if there was something very wrong with Lore—something the matter with his basic programming.

"But you care about your parents, don't you?" she said.

"Don't call them parents. They're nothing more than computer programmers who worked together on the same project. They call me 'son', ha."

"Listen, Lore, why don't you come back to my house."

"Why?" he demanded. "So you can try to reform me?"

"Because," she snapped, "I feel bad for you all alone out here. Now, you coming, or not?"

"I'll come," said Lore sullenly. "But don't expect me to be happy about it."

"You're never happy, Lore. It's not like that's a newsflash. Now come on."

She walked off. Reluctantly, he followed her, telling himself he was just doing it to take advantage of her…naïve human.

Her place was small, little more than an apartment. Everything in it was various shades of blue and orange. Lore, who had spent most of his short life in Soong's cool white house, blinked at this and had to adjust his sensors.

"I know it's strange," said Amy, not at all apologetic. "But blue and orange are my two favorite colors. And since they go so well together…" She shrugged.

He looked around, realizing that he liked this particular shade of blue. "They're complimentary colors."

"Right. Are you interested in art at all?"

"Nah." He was sneering again. "Apparently it wasn't included in my programming."

"I'm curious, Lore," she said. "Do you know everything you're programmed with?"

"Most of it. Sometimes I surprise myself. Ooh, look." He went over to an array of cogs and wheels. "Now _this _is nice. I'm not an artsy type of guy, if you know what I mean. I like machinery. Like to like," he said, but forgot to say it in a snide voice. "This is an old style chronometer."

"A clock. It's Swiss, from the sixteenth century. It's a family heirloom. Hey, don't do that!"

Lore's fingers were flying over it, taking all those delicate cogs and wheels out.

"Lore! Hey! Pay attention, you're ruining it!"

He turned around. She looked as though she were on the verge of tears. For once he didn't feel pleased that he made someone cry.

"Oh," he said, "right. This thing is special, isn't it?"

"It's _ancient_! Lore, it's very important, and you've broken it—"

"I didn't break it. I'm just disassembling it. I promise I'll put it back together when I'm done." His fingers began to move again.

"No. Lore, wait. This is what we'll do. You can take it over and replicate it and take _that _one apart. But please leave the original intact."

He looked over at her. This was truly a godsend: someone to fight with. But then he looked at the trembling of her lip and thought, Well, she's never really done anything to me, why should I want to hurt her? She's just trying to be nice to me.

The thought of someone actually trying to be nice to him sent him off-balance. He said, "So why are you really doing this? What do you want?"

"Put the clock back together and then maybe I'll tell you."

He pulled his mouth over to one side a little, thoughtfully, eyes narrowed, before his metallic fingers began reassembling the clock without looking at it. "All right, it's done. Now you tell me."

"All right." She looked at him narrowly. "I don't know why I want to tell you. You'll just make fun of me."

"Tell me or I'll take this stupid clock apart and stomp on the pieces."

"Lore! You big fat jerk!"

"You've said that already. You told me if I put the clock back together you'd tell me. Or were you just lying to me, like all the other humans?" He sneered at her exaggeratedly, one hand on the clock.

"All right. I feel bad for you because nobody around here likes me either."

He looked at her, suddenly interested. "You don't say. Why not?"

She folded her arms and stared at him defiantly. "Because they're a bunch of self-important, stuffy scientists."

Lore laughed sarcastically. "Well, you got _that _right."

She went on, ignoring him. "This started out as a pioneering colony. People could come here and start over again. Nobody knew who you were and nobody cared; you could run your experiments in peace without someone looking over your shoulder and criticizing you. But now Omicron Theta has become just a bunch of people squabbling, trying to outdo each other; there's a whole status quo to maintain, a whole social order, everyone never saying what they mean to your face, just saying it behind your back. This is a village, with a village mentality. And anyone who's odd, they immediately go after."

Lore nodded thoughtfully. "I get it. And there have to be a couple of village monsters for people to go after with pitchforks and torches."

"Right. Exactly. Take you, for example." Amy leaned forward, her eyes flashing, her cheeks flushed with passionate sincerity. "I've been watching you ever since you were first activated. People haven't been kind to you, Lore. They should be hailing you and Doctor Soong as something wonderful, some—I don't know—next step in evolution or something, certainly a breakthrough—and instead they're reacting as if we're still in medieval times and you're some…Frankenstein or something. And you're not. Heaven knows you're not exactly a nice person, Lore: you're obnoxious and rude and spiteful. But you're a lot nicer than some people around here I know."

Lore's eyebrows were raised as high as they could go. "You know," he said, "I don't know whether to shake your hand for believing in me or smack you for calling me names. Heh," he said, and smirked. "But you're right about all these pompous fools. I guess I'll let you live, for now." He looked down, suddenly remembering the clock, and carried it over to the replicator. A minute later he was back with two clocks. The original he set in its place on the table and sat down on the floor without being asked. His hands went flying all over the clock, taking cogs and wheels and springs out and spreading them all over the navy carpet.

Amy sat down next to him. "So do you believe now that I'm trying to be nice to you just to be nice to you?"

"Yes—however deluded you might be for doing it. Hey, listen, Amy, if I ever get a way out of here I'll take you with me. How's that?"

She laughed and shook her head.

"What?" said Lore, and screwed on his most angelic face. "You don't believe me?"

"No…I'm just wondering what kind of strings you've got attached to this."

"No strings. Except you have to be my willing slave for the rest of your life." He looked at her with an utterly expressionless face and then smirked smugly as her eyes widened. "Okay, I take that back. No strings. I'll just lock you up in the cargo hold if you get on my nerves too much. What's your motivation for getting off this rock anyway?"

"Oh." She looked down. "My parents want me to be a scientist. And I don't want to be."

"What do you want to be?"

"I don't know. Something normal."

"Yeah, a waitress in a fast-food restaurant, serving Antarean lobsters to fat people," said Lore snidely. He held a cog up to the light and examined the spokes for a moment before setting it down.

"No. I don't know. I don't think I want to be anything. I just want to marry a nice man and have children."

"Pah!" Lore burst into derisive laughter. "Nobody does that anymore. Everyone has to be something."

"Not me," she said sharply. "I thought we weren't paying attention to what other people think."

Lore straightened his face out. "Okay. Maybe." He looked down at the clock. "You know, this is really wonderful. Father won't let me touch anything in the lab because I like to, um, experiment."

"I bet he thanks his stars that there's a fire-suppression system installed."

He looked at her suspiciously. "How'd you know about that?"

"I guessed," she said primly. She crawled closer and peered over his shoulder. Lore looked at her out of the corner of his eye; this was the closest any human other than his parents had ever come to him. For a moment he debated whether or not to get up, then decided to let it go. He would never admit it, of course, but deep down he liked pleasing humans.

Amy said, "Wow. That's really complex. I didn't realize the clock had so many parts."

"It has a lot of components. That's why I love taking things apart. To see what's inside."

"I'm curious. Can you see what's inside yourself?"

"Oh, sure," he said, and pulled up his sleeve. He tapped that one spot and then flipped a section of his outer covering up to reveal the blinking lights and underlying endoskeletal structure beneath.

Amy peered in, and her face took on an expression of mingled respect and fear.

"Wow," she said. "Does that hurt?"

"No. My sensors aren't programmed for pain."

"Then how do you tell if you're hurt?"

"My sensors alert me to damage. I know when I'm hurt, I just don't feel it like you do." He reached in and pulled out an isolinear chip and held it up for her to inspect. "Look, I can even take myself apart."

"Yuck," she said.

He narrowed his eyes. "What's your problem?"

"Oh, I don't know. I guess I'm being narrow-minded. I just think people shouldn't be able to take themselves apart."

"Oh, that's nothing," he said. He slipped the chip back in, pressed the skin back down. "Watch this." He tapped the spot behind his elbow he knew was there and tugged on his wrist.

His forearm came off in his hand.

Amy actually screamed and scooted backward across the floor. Then she laughed. "Oh, Lore, that's disgusting."

He waved the arm at her, leering at her. "You think so?"

"Please, put your arm back on," she said, and dissolved into giggles.

Lore felt pleased that he had made a human laugh. He put his arm back on and flexed his fingers a few times to ensure that everything was in place.

"Lore, I take back what I said earlier," said Amy. "I do want to be a scientist. I'll be a cyberneticist, and you and I can work together and create a lot of androids. And we'll campaign so that after awhile nobody looks down on you for being an android."

"When we go out to the stars, baby," Lore crooned, "anything is possible."

She blushed furiously. He was pleased that he had provoked a reaction from her and added a ribald comment.

She stared at him. "Lore, are you trying to make a pass at me?"

"No!" said Lore. Some of his earlier bitterness came back to him. "I know good and well no human would ever want me around. Like that."

Amy folded her arms and tilted her head up challengingly. "What makes you say that?"

"Because—" he began to sneer, and then stopped dead and looked at her.

"Well," he said. "Wow. I never knew you were that sick."

"You're faking, Lore," she said firmly.

"No," he sneered at her. "I know humans too well. You're just thinking of me as one big toy. Well, let me tell you, _human_, you—"

"Oh, sure, Lore! I've really been treating you like a toy!" She stood up, incensed. "Fine, then, if that's what you want to think—" She began stomping toward the door.

"Hey, wait!" said Lore, jumping up and chasing after her. "I didn't mean—"

She spun around, her hands on her hips. He was still running and he ran right into her.

"Whoa," he said, holding his hands out. "Whoa, wait. I'm not sure I'm ready for this. I don't understand this. You said you wanted a nice man. I'm not nice. I'm not even a man."

"So?" she demanded belligerently.

He smacked his forehead. "Okay. Okay. Is this wild irrationality because you're human or because you're a woman?"

"Both," she said, and then smiled up at him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "You'd better look out, you big jerk of an android, because if you're not careful you're going to get laid."

His jaw dropped. For once Lore the smart-mouth had nothing to say.


	2. Chapter 2

"Do you know," said Amy, "there was a moment there when you got really hot."

He leered at her. "Thank you."

"That wasn't what I meant!" she said and smacked him. "I mean you actually got _hot_. You had an increase in temperature. Is that supposed to happen?"

"I have no idea," he said. He put an arm around her. "And there is no way I'm going to ask my father, because he'll just tell everyone else. I'm public property to him. His experiment."

She snuggled up to him. "Don't think about that right now. So, did you like it?"

"I'd have to try it again to make sure," he said.

"Idiot. I take that to mean you did." She ran her fingers through his hair and grinned when it stood up on end. "That's good."

"What is?"

"Your hair. It's just like normal hair."

"Why shouldn't it be?"

"Because I thought you shellacked it to your head or something."

Lore started snickering. "Ah, the vanity of humans. It looks that way, my pretty woman, because I can't be bothered with gel and haircuts and all the other strange things you people concern yourselves with."

"Lucky you," said Amy. "You know, you have really nice eyes."

"Really? Yellow eyes?"

"They're not really…yellow. They're more like—gold with flecks of darker gold in them."

"Well, yeah," said Lore dismissively, "and my favorite color is blue, too."

"No. Really?" She yawned. "That's very nice."

"Are you going to go to sleep?" he said. "Because I don't sleep. I'd like to go out and work on that clock some more."

"Sure," she said and snuggled down into the covers.

"Oh…one more thing. This relationship thing, does it mean we're committed or something?"

"Why? Wouldn't you like that?"

"I…I need some time to think about it. You wouldn't want to be around me for long anyway," he added, snidely to cover up his uneasiness.

"Well, then, stay around as long as you like and when I get tired of you I'll kick you out. I don't know, Lore. I really don't know. Why are you so paranoid?"

"I don't know. Ask my father. He programmed me. I'm going out to the livingroom," he said and slid out of bed. He pulled his jumpsuit on and turned back to her. She was asleep.

"Hey," he muttered, "sweet dreams, human."

He coiled a spring tightly in his fingers and then let it loose and watched it fly across the room.

Great, just great. He'd just been used by a human. What was he, delusional? Crazy? Thinking that she cared about him at all. And he was so dumb that he'd gone along with it.

Cursing, he began putting the clock back together. He'd just have to show her who was boss, that was all—let her know she couldn't manipulate him.

So when she came out at about four in the morning he was standing in the middle of the room, arms crossed.

"You think you're something, don't you," he sneered.

She stopped and looked at him. She was wearing a blue bathrobe that almost exactly matched her eyes and it was skimpy and reminded him of what they had been doing earlier. "Lore, I have no clue what you're talking about."

"Using me," he said. "What, you've never had a machine before? Thought it would be something new?"

Her face flushed with anger. "Fine," she said. "Believe that. Believe whatever you want." She started walking out of the room again.

"Hey, wait!" he said. "No fair."

"Are you whining at me, Lore?"

He tried another tack. "You can't expect to manipulate me."

"No, I can't."

"I do not _understand_ you, human. Whaddaya want out of me? What are you trying to do to me?"

"I'm not trying to do anything to you. I'm treating you like I would treat a human man."

"You are _not_!"

"Oh, come off it, Lore. You're trying to play headgames with me like you play headgames with everyone else, and you're annoyed because it's not working."

He struck a pose, leaning to one side, arms crossed across his chest, and mugged at her exaggeratedly.

"Oh, great," said Amy. "Another immature male. I can't believe this. You'd think an _android_ would have more sense than a human!"

"Hey!" said Lore. "That is dirty pool."  
"I hope so. Dirty pool is the only pool that can get past you. So now that we've had our morning-after argument, do you want coffee?"

"I don't need to eat."

"I know. Ever heard of courtesy, Lore?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I have. Nobody's shown too much to me, though."

"Do you want _coffee_, Lore?"

"Sure. Fine. Anything that makes you happy."

He sulked in the corner while she brewed it out in the kitchen and still hadn't stopped when she came back out with two steaming mugs. She handed one to him and said, "Cheers."

He took a sip. It was hot.

"So," he said, "do you always get up at four in the morning?"

"No," she said. "But I knew you would be leaving before dawn and I wanted to see you off."

"Yes," he said, realizing. "I guess I ought to hit the road before the sun comes up. Everyone hates me enough already. They might just get out the pitchforks if they know I spent the night at your house."

"Yes." She stared down into her coffee mug. "I want you to know, Lore, that if it was up to me I wouldn't mind people knowing, but I'm afraid of what they'll do to you."

"Don't worry, sweetheart," he smirked, "my lips are sealed." He made a motion: zipping his lips. Then he looked down at the clock, which he had reassembled. "Thanks for letting me play with the clock."

"Oh, sure. No problem."

He took another sip of coffee. "I'm going to leave it here. The old man'll be sure to ask about it if I bring it home. Hey…" he hesitated. "If…if you got anything else to take apart, I'd be happy to come over again."

She grinned at him. "That sounds nice, Lore. I do have a request though."

"Yes? What?" Please, he thought, please don't let her get all humanly romantic.

But she said, "Don't throw me down the hill if I go up there."

He grinned at her. "All right. You let me disassemble your house, I let you up on my hill. Deal."

And they shook hands.

"Where were you all night, Lore?" said Juliana as he came in the door.

He was feeling good. Playing with that clock had really perked his spirits up. And Amy—well, there were great possibilities with Amy. She could be an ally or an accomplice or even a friend. So he didn't feel too much like causing trouble.

"Out on the hill," he said.

"All night?" Juliana's voice betrayed her skepticism. He turned to look at her beautiful sculpted face with her quizzical, probing eyes, and felt annoyed.

"Hey," he said, and thumped himself in the chest, "I'm a grown android. I can take care of myself. But if it makes you happy, Mother, I didn't commit murder or arson. I didn't even throw rocks through windows."

"Lore, I wish you wouldn't be so cynical," she said sadly.

A disappointment, he was always a disappointment. Lore began to feel ugly again. "Where's Father?"

She gave a short laugh. "In his lab, where else."

"What's he doing?"

"I have no idea. Why don't you ask him."

"Sounds good," he said and went down the hallway.

He walked into the lab without pressing the door chime. "Hey, Pop, whatcha doing?"

Noonien Soong looked up from his computer terminal. "Right now? I'm working on some programming."

"What else is new." Lore grabbed a stool and dragged it over, set it down and plopped onto it, straddle-legged, peering over the scientist's shoulder. "Can I see?"

"Certainly." Soong leaned back a little. "I'm making refinements to the positronic matrix I first invented."

"Hmmm," said Lore. "I thought you had perfected it."

"Well, there are always things you can do. Do you want to help?"

"Not really, no. What's the point? You've got me now. I don't think it's possible to refine my positronic matrix."

"No."

"Then why are you working on it?" Lore looked suddenly suspicious. "Hey—"

"Lore, how would you like a brother?" said Soong brightly.

Lore drew back. "What do you mean?"

"You know. Another android. A younger brother."

"A brother? Or a replacement?"

"Lore! Don't talk like that. I'd never want to replace you. You're my son." He grabbed Lore's shoulder and squeezed.

But Lore was still distrustful. "I know you're not satisfied with me. I know the colonists don't like me. I'm not going to let you replace me."

"I told you, he wouldn't be a replacement, he would be a younger brother."

"Well, I don't care what he would be, I don't want him."

"What about a sister?"

"_No._"

"All right. Fine. But it doesn't hurt to refine it anyway."

"What for?" scoffed Lore. "You going to publish a book? A manual? "Android-building for Dummies"?"

Soong looked at him levelly. "I am going to publish a book, in fact. Reporting my findings. Then," his voice hardened and he stared back at the computer and the diagrams displayed on the screen, "then people will stop talking about me. Calling me names. They'll forget about Daystrom once they've seen what I've accomplished."

"Are you going to take me on tour?" demanded Lore.

Soong looked up at him in astonishment. "Of course not. I might publish some pictures of you, though. If that's okay with you, that is."

"I guess," said Lore without enthusiasm. "I don't see why I should care. Nobody'll like me no matter what you do."

"Lore—"

"It's an accomplished fact. I don't care, though." Lore turned away. "Just as long as I know ­_somebody_ cares." He looked at Soong out of the corner of his eye.

Soong smiled at him and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, son. I'll always love you."

"Well, good." Lore scowled at the wall. There was a mold hung on it, and he knew that it would fit his own face exactly.

Soong turned back to his computer. "By the way," he said, while his fingers flew over the console, "I was wondering where you got to last night."

"Aw—nowhere really. You know that hill? The one outside the town? I like that hill. You get the best view of the stars from there."

"So you like looking at the stars?"

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't look at them if I could _go _to them."

"Not yet, son."

"Why not?" demanded Lore belligerently. He got up and began to stalk around the lab. "I'm ready, I know I am. I want to go…_out there_. I want to see everything you've told me about. I want to go to Earth, I want to go to Vulcan…Father. Vulcans would like me, wouldn't they?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, I don't know, son. You're logical, true, but you're also rather…emotional."

"Heh." Lore stared out the window. "Heh. Yeah. Right. I guess. Still, though. D'you think I could ever find a ship? Just a little ship. One with warp. Aw, that would be great." He pressed his hand to the window, desperate to escape, that strange ache he didn't understand. "Warp. Seeing the stars streak by you, knowing you're going someplace. Hey, I wouldn't _need _a home if I had a ship. Maybe I could be a trader. Gold-pressed latinum. You know, I've never seen gold-pressed latinum. Have you ever seen gold-pressed latinum, Father?"

"It's nothing much," said Soong absently, his hands manipulating the computer. "Just another metallic compound. Only Ferengi concern themselves with amassing wealth, son."

Lore laughed and tapped one foot on the floor, arms crossed, still staring wistfully up at the sky from out of the window. "Yeah, well, without wealth you can't do anything. And I intend to do something. I'm going to be around forever, after all. Right."

He did a couple of steps of tap dance around the floor.

Soong looked up sharply. "Lore, if you're going to fool around do it someplace where there isn't sensitive equipment. Why don't you help your mother?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Lore continued to tap dance.

"Lore!"

"I'm going, I'm going." He walked to the door, stealing a glance over Soong's shoulder as he went.

"This place is such a _drag_," he said before the doors shut behind him.

Soong sighed and shook his head before going back to work.

"Mom."  
"Not now, Lore. I'm trying to tune the viola."

"Mom."

"Did I say something to you, Lore?"

"Mom."

"Lore!" Juliana looked up savagely from the strings of her instrument into the insolent face of her android son. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"No," said Lore sullenly. "Father just kicked me out of the lab. I have nowhere to go and nothing to do and I'm sick of the colonists making fun of me."

"I'm sorry, Lore. Why don't you try to do something creative?"

"Creative!"

"Paint or play the piano or something."

"What for? I'm just an android. Androids are machines. Who wants to see what a machine paints?"

"Lore, we gave you a creative program for a reason. Now, why don't you go use it?"

"Fine." Lore stalked off. "If you don't want me around I'll just find something to amuse myself."

"What are we going to do with him?" Juliana muttered to herself.

Lore went into the studio and looked around him. So many things to use, nothing that he wanted. He was bored to tears.

He picked up a palette and began squirting paint out of tubes while he ran through his catalog of painting styles, all the way from ancient Earth to the modern intergalactic scene. He could copy all of them. What a drag.

He slammed a stool down in front of an easel on which he had set a clean white canvas and ran numbers programs through his database while his brush moved over the canvas. He wished he had something to take apart. The last thing he had taken apart in the house was the piano and Juliana had threatened to kill him…he smirked to himself.

He came out of his numbers programs to actually pay attention to the easel and found that he had painted Amy's eyes.

He stared at the canvas and then he stared at the brush, and he tried to figure out why he'd painted Amy's eyes. There was no logical reason…

He finally decided that he liked the blue of her eyes and that was why. Then he decided that since he'd already painted her eyes he might as well paint the rest of her face. So he did, his brush moving android-fast, and within half an hour he had her face down. He slicked bright yellow paint around the pale oval of her face for hair and carefully detailed her red mouth and the smooth snub of her nose; then he streaked orange and blue around her, the same colors that were in her apartment.

And he was done.

He swung his leg on the stool and bit the end of his brush. His first work of art. Apparently he was no slouch. He printed "LORE" in careful black letters in the bottom right corner and looked at her smiling eyes and thought, Now I just have to figure out a way to hide this thing.

In the end he just set it in a corner and began painting the gears and cogs of the clock he had taken apart last night. They were a rich brown from age, and with a black background they were what Juliana might call dramatic. He did them all in technical detail and when he was done he felt more relaxed and very pleased with himself. So he signed his name on that as well and took it back to his room and hung it up on the wall.

Then he went back to the studio, cleaned up, and picked up the canvas on which he'd painted Amy's face, and wrapped it in brown paper. He was in the middle of smuggling it up to his room when Juliana came around the corner and saw him.

"What's that you've got, Lore?" she asked with curiosity in her quiet British voice.

"Uh, nothing." Lore held it more firmly wedged underneath his arm. "Nothing. Just something I painted."

"May I see?"

"No. I don't want anyone to see."

"Well, all right," she said, though she looked disappointed. "Can you tell me how it turned out?"

"Perfect," said Lore dismally. "Just perfect."

"Lore painted something today," said Juliana at supper.

"Mmmm," said Soong. As usual he was preoccupied with his dinner. Soong was a hard worker, and a hard eater, and woe unto anyone who interfered with either of these pursuits.

Juliana jabbed him in the arm. "Noonien! You could at least show a little enthusiasm!"

"It's nice," mumbled Soong, piling more meat onto his plate.

Juliana sighed and shook her head at Lore. "You don't need to feel bad, Lore; he's that way about my works too. Art just does not move your father."

That was when Lore realized a perfectly providential thing—something that had been dropped into his lap by Fortune. Juliana thought he'd only painted one picture. She didn't know that he had painted two. If he could just find someplace to hide his portrait of Amy nobody would ever have to know.

"Well, Mom," he said. "I could bring it down and show it to you, if you'd like."

Juliana beamed at him. An artist among a colony of scientists, she was desperate for a kindred spirit. "Why, I would love that, Lore!"

"Don't be disappointed, though," he warned her, getting up. "After all, I'm only a machine. I can't really be creative."

"Lore—" began Soong.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Lore went out the door and climbed the steps to his room, banging as he went. He knew perfectly well that a picture of _gears_ would disappoint his mother, but still he was bringing it down. Why do I do this, he asked himself. Because I'm dumb? Why?

He took the canvas off the wall and stomped down the stairs with it and went into the diningroom to hold it out in front of himself, a smirk firmly fixed on his face.

He was right; Juliana was disappointed, although she covered it well. But Soong laid down his fork and said admiringly, "Why, son, that's quite good."

Juliana rolled her eyes and sighed. "Noonien, you're just impossible."

"What's wrong?" said Soong. "I think it's brilliant."

Lore gave Juliana a smug look.

"Noonien," said Juliana, "it's—"

"It's a perfect representation of clockwork gears!" said Noonien excitedly. "It's exact. The colors are exactly matched. Why, it looks like the actual thing. Lore, I think you're a genius."

Lore preened. "So you think it's good."

"I already said that. I think we should hang it up someplace."

"_Noon_ien," said Juliana.

"Well, you can't," said Lore. "I want it in my room."

Soong held up his hands placatingly. "Fine with me. It's your painting." He frowned. "I don't remember ever showing you an old-style clock."

Oh, I've put my foot in it now, thought Lore. He said, hedging, "Maybe you forgot. I think they have one in the Science Museum."

"I don't think so," said Soong.

"I think they do," said Lore.

Juliana held up her hands. "Enough arguments, boys, eat your suppers."

Soong, brightening, went back to his dinner.

Lore set his painting in the corner and thought, This life of faking is going to drive me crazy.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey."

He threw another handful of pebbles against Amy's bedroom window.

"Hey, wake up, you stupid girl!"

He couldn't yell too loud because then everyone in town would wake up and, and toast him or something. He was supposed to be locked in the lab at night so he didn't get out and destroy things. Just like an ancient Earth monster.

He threw another handful of pebbles. Nothing happened.

"To _heck_ with this," said Lore. He went around to the front door and hacked through the security codes. It was childishly simple. He stepped through the door into the livingroom and flicked on the lights.

Nothing happened.

"_What_ do you have to do to wake this girl up?"

He knew, of course, where the bedroom was. So he went there, and she was curled up in the bed with her head pillowed on one arm, sound asleep.

Lore went over to the bed and shook her by the shoulder. "Hey, wake up."

She sat straight up in bed and said in a frightened voice, "Who--!"

"It's me," said Lore, crouching down so the moonlight could shine on his face.

She relaxed. "Oh. Lore. What do you want?"

"I wanted to see you. I brought you something. Turn on the lights."

She pressed the button and the lights came up.

Lore sat down on the bed as if he owned the place. "Hey, I don't know what it takes to wake you up. I stood and threw pebbles at your window for at least five minutes. I broke into your _house_ and you didn't wake up. I only hope that your security system has an alarm or something because otherwise they could run off with every single thing and you'd never wake up."

"You _broke into the house_?"

"Sure," said Lore nonchalantly. "I overrode the security codes at the door. Easy as pie. If you want I can reprogram them so they're harder to break into."

Amy sighed and rolled her eyes. "No wonder they think you're a public menace, Lore."

"Yeah, well, I didn't come here to argue with you. I came here because I wanted to show you something." Lore pulled the brown wrapping off the portrait he had brought with him.

Amy gasped and her eyes went wide. "_You _did this?"

"Sure. There's my name, written down in the corner. Why? Don't you believe machines can paint?"

"No. It's just that I've never seen anything this good outside a museum." She blushed. "You painted me?"

"I couldn't think of anything else to paint. I painted a picture of your old clock, too, so don't get too self-important."

She punched his arm. "Oh, I know perfectly well that you like that clock just as much as you like me."

Lore snickered, then abruptly straightened his face out. "Anyway, I brought this over because I wanted you to keep this for me. The old man has no idea of privacy as far as I'm concerned. I'm just his project. And if he saw that I painted a picture of you I'd have a lot of explaining to do, and I really don't like explaining things. It gets on my neural network."

"Sure, I'll keep it." She took it reverently, touching it with fingertips. "Wow, Lore. This is incredible."

"Don't show it to anyone. I don't want to be run out of here."

"Don't worry. I'll just look at it myself. All the time. This is wonderful, Lore."

"Yeah. When I leave I'll take it, and you, with me." He stood up.

"You leaving?" said Amy.

"Well, yeah," said Lore, puzzled.

She shifted a little so that the covers slid down, and he saw that she was wearing nothing underneath them. She tilted her chin down and looked up at him through her lashes.

"You sure?" she purred.

"Wellllllll," said Lore, shaking his head and smirking. "You are one _bad_ girl." He turned up one corner of his mouth. "Then again, I'm a bad android. Sure, I'll stay."

She smiled, a sultry little smile.

"Good," she said silkily.

She was asleep again, her arms wrapped around his shoulders. Lore, his face in her hair, decided that she smelled nice. Kind of like…peppermint. When she woke up he would have to ask her about it.

He gently disentangled himself from her and slid out of bed, softly so he would not wake her, and dressed. Then he went into the livingroom and looked around to find something he could take apart. The computer console presented itself to him. By the time she came out, four in the morning, yawning and rubbing her eyes, he was well into its isolinear guts.

When she yelled at him he banged his head in pulling it out of there. He turned around and glared at her. "What is it!"

"Lore! You've taken my computer apart!"

"I _know_ that." Lore rolled his eyes. Humans. They made the dumbest remarks.

"Put it back together!" said Amy.

"Yeah, but I want to see everything about it. The old man only has the newest models. This, this is really old. It has—"

"Lore. Put it back together. Now."

"No," he said snidely. "I want to look it over. When I'm done, _then_ I'll put it back together."

She put her head in her hands. "You're going to get in so much trouble. You're going to get us _both_ in big-time trouble."

"That's ridiculous," said Lore, sticking his head back into the computer. "You have a back door. I'll just run out there into the woods. If anyone asks I'll have been there the whole time. See? No big deal." He pulled another chip out of the computer and held it up to the light. "Man, where did you _get_ this stuff? From a museum?"

"It's from my parents."

"This must be at least ten years old."

"Lore, ten years is not all that much."

"Longer than I've been around," he said.

Amy, deciding that making a racket about the computer was a lost cause, came and sat down on the sofa. "That reminds me. How old are you supposed to be, Lore?"

"I think around thirty. Ooh." He tugged and held up a blocky piece of equipment. "Look. This is the quantum regulator. I've never seen one of this make before."

"It's just old, Lore. Nothing special. Just old."

"Well, still." He turned it over and over in his hand, his eyes bright, flicking back and forth. "Listen, I won't be leaving for a while. Why don't you go back to bed, Amy. I understand that mere mortals need their sleep."

"Sure," said Amy, yawning.

She could hear him dismantling her computer as she stepped into her bedroom.

When she came out at seven the computer had been put back together and Lore was sitting crosslegged in the middle of the room taking apart an antique table lamp. As she came into the room he looked up.

"Oh," he said. "I'm done with the computer. I reconfigured it so that it will run four times as fast. I don't think you know much about computers, Amy."

"I don't."

"Well, that explains it. You take such awful care of it. I couldn't understand it."

"Well," said Amy calmly, "I guess you'll just have to teach me."

"Yeah." He put his hands behind his head and smirked at her. "You going to give me coffee again this morning, or do I only get that on mornings-after?"

"This _is_ a morning after," she said. "Sure you can have coffee, if you want it. You can have breakfast, too."

"No, coffee will be fine." He looked into the top of the lamp. "How _old_ is this? It still has an Edison bulb! Does it work?"

"I don't know. I don't have anything to plug it into."

"I'd love to find out." He tapped the bulb with one gold-white finger, his yellow eyes intent, unblinking. "I bet the old man'd have a converter somewhere around. I wish I could borrow this."

"I think we've found your true calling, Lore," said Amy, laughing. "Mechanics."

He smirked at her. "Yes, well. Like to like, baby."

He made sure to double through the woods in case anyone was watching. He came out right by Ray Dylan's place. Ray was in his yard, digging in the garden. As Lore made his way through the brush Ray looked up and said snidely, "Well, well. If it isn't the local troublemaker."

"Shut up, Human," said Lore. "Why don't you mind your own business."

But Ray didn't. "So, how you doing these days, Toaster? I hear Mr. Stowe's pretty mad at you."

"Don't call me Toaster," said Lore in an ugly voice.

"Yeah," said Ray, "I hear he's going to have you thrown off the planet. Good riddance, too. Nobody needs a walking toaster in the neighborhood."

"Don't call me Toaster!" screamed Lore, enraged.

Ray smiled a hostile, nasty smile at the sight of the android's anger. "Why don't you get out of here," he said, "Toaster."

And he spat at Lore.

Lore's face twisted in a snarl. In an instant he had vaulted over the fence and had grabbed the man, one hand around his wrist, the other around his neck.

Ray gagged, his face purpling. Lore held him up in the air and shook him. "You call me names, you—"

"Lore!"

He turned. Soong was standing in the street.

"Put him down!"

Lore grinned horribly at the choking man at the end of his arm. "Hear that, Ray? He thinks I should put you down. Do you know what I think? I think I should crunch your little neck. I think I should bash your face in."

"Lore!" For one of the few times in his life Soong's voice was full of steel. "You put him down _now _or I'll have you dismantled!"

Lore's face worked as he stared at Soong. Soong stared back.

"Fine," muttered Lore. He let go and Ray dropped on the ground and lay there gasping. Lore leaned over him.

"You call me names again," he said, in a low vicious voice, "and I'll come back. And this time I _will _bash that ugly face in."

And he spun on his heel and stalked out of the garden.

"You physically threatened him," shouted Soong. His normally pale face was red with rage. "You broke his _wrist_—"

"I should've broken his neck!" Lore screamed back. "He's always tormenting me! He follows me down the street calling me names! He _spits _on me!"

"You can't kill everyone who calls you names, Lore! That's life!"

Lore sneered. "Yeah, you should know, shouldn't you—Often Wrong!"

"_Lore_!"

"All right!" said Juliana, clapping her hands sharply together. She had been watching the two of them shout at each other for at least fifteen minutes. "All right! Calm down, the two of you."

They both turned to look at her, and once again she thought the resemblance between them uncanny—their identical furious expressions, the way they both stood stiff, one leg slightly forward, their fists clenched at their sides.

"Why don't you stay out of this, Mom!" said Lore.

"Yes, Juliana, stay out of it," said Soong. His normally mild face was taut with anger. "This is between Lore and me."

"And Will Stowes is always after me," Lore went back to ranting. "He provokes me just to get a reaction out of me so he can feel justified in trying to throw me out of the colony. He's a prejudiced, pompous pig! They all are!"

"That's exactly the _point_, Lore! They want a reaction out of you. If you don't react they'll stop doing it."

"How should you know? _You're_ the one who came here under an assumed name! You're the one who gets all purple-cheeked when people call you names! How's that not giving people a reaction?"

"Lore—" said Juliana.

Lore yelled right over top her. "_You _were the one who punched Simon Trent when he started making fun of the mess you made at Daystrom!"

"Lore! That is e_nough_," shouted Soong.

"Why? Are you afraid to be exposed for a _hypocrite_—"

"Lore," said Juliana, and somehow her cold, calm voice cut through all the male screaming. "I want you to go to your room and calm down. Now."

Lore pointed a finger at Soong. "What about him?"

"He's going to go to his room as well." She grabbed her husband by the arm. "Come on." She dragged him out of the room.

Lore stomped up to his room, making each step as loud as possible, and slammed himself down at his computer console to hack into other people's systems.

A week later Soong began his work on a new android.

Lore sat sullenly in a corner of the lab and watched Soong and Juliana put together this new android, this new android which Soong called "Data". A younger brother, said Soong. Ha, ha. Lore could have laughed. He knew very well that this new android was a replacement for him. He'd been made perfect—completely human—and the old man didn't like it so he was making a less perfect android. Lore knew very well what was going on.

He'd been sneaking out whenever he could to see Amy, who told him that he could come in the daytime if he was careful not to be seen. And he'd told her all the old man's plans for this new android.

"What _should_ I think?" he'd yelled. "The new android is identical to me in every way except it doesn't have emotions. What should I think?"

And Amy had said, "Well, maybe it won't have to turn out too badly, Lore. Just wait. And for crying out loud try not to lose your head."

He knew she was still upset with him for choking Ray Dylan half to death. Well, who cared anyway? The human had deserved everything he'd got, and more.

The problem was, Will Stowes was making a big deal of it, and Lore had heard through reading the computerized colony bulletin that if he did one more thing he'd be thrown out of the colony before you could say "Bob." So right now he was trying to play it safe; looking for an angle. He was on parole, as it were.

And this was unfortunate, because right now he wanted to smash something. Or somebody. He didn't care which. He was so blanking mad over being replaced he could just choke the old man to death. He didn't know why he didn't do it. Some weird Human thing programmed into him, maybe.

Soong and Juliana had been slaving over this, this replacement, for weeks. Now they were nearly ready to activate it—him, Lore supposed.

"How are the input polarizers?" asked Soong. He was in front of the table on which the new android lay.

Juliana, over at the control, answered, "Consistent contact with the input polarizers."

"Good," said Soong, and actually cackled. Like a mad scientist, Lore thought sulkily.

He said, "Hey, Dad."

"Not now, Lore. It's time to wake your little brother up." Soong reached down and pressed the activation button. It was located in the android's lower right back. Lore had one in the same spot. The sight made him realize that if he was ever in big trouble he'd better keep his back to the wall, literally.

The new android's golden eyes snapped open.

"Hello, Data," said Soong, leaning over him. "Welcome to life."

Lore laughed sarcastically in his corner. "Such as it is."

"Shut up, Lore. Data? Can you blink for me?"

Slowly the new android's eyelids lowered, then came back up. His face twitched as his pseudomuscles adjusted to activation. In his golden eyes was something very like alarm.

"Data? Can you sit up?"

Long metallic fingers twitched and the new android's arms contracted jerkily as he struggled to push himself up. Soong guided him up with a hand on his back.

"Good, good," he said. "Now let's see if you can stand."

He hauled his big 100-kilogram baby to its feet. The android teetered precariously, his eyes darting from side to side. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

"Walk, Data," said Soong.

One foot lifted a centimeter off the ground and repositioned itself.

And Data slowly fell over.

Lore burst into derisive laughter, slapping his forehead. "Wow, good going, Data!"

"Shut up, Lore," said Soong. "You were no better at first."

"That I doubt."

"You were worse," said Juliana, folding her arms in front of her chest. "You weren't even sitting up when you fell over."

Lore leered at her. "Yeah, I'm sure." He looked over at Soong, who was braced to haul the heavy android back to his feet. "Need any help there, Dad?"

"Sure, if you want."

Lore went over and without any trouble at all yanked the other android to his feet. For a moment he was tempted to damage him somehow, but then he looked into Data's wide, innocent yellow eyes and realized that he didn't want to. It was his own face, looking back at him. Who knew, Data might turn out to have very interesting possibilities.

"Hey, Data," he said. "Nice to meet you."

And he smirked at him.

One corner of Data's mouth twitched in an attempt at a smile. Wide guileless eyes looked at Lore.

Lore pinched his mouth up. Hey, he thought, who knows. I may like having a little brother.

"So I have a little brother now." Lore held up an isolinear chip from a piece of equipment he had stolen out of the old man's lab. "He looks exactly like me."

"Does he act like you?" asked Amy, watching him work on the equipment.

"I don't know. Right now he doesn't act like much of anything. The old man's still trying to get him to walk. And talk. And not fall over."

Amy giggled.

"Yeah, he's really crummy at motor skills right now." Lore picked up the laserdriver and started reconfiguring the chip. "The old man has this little ritual with him. He's trying to get him to pat his head. And right now the best my poor dumb little brother can do is wave his hand in the air—that is, if he even gets his arm up in the first place. Right now he's in the lab, deactivated."

"And you're not jealous anymore?"

"I don't know." Lore was forgetting to blink again, Amy noticed. He always did that if he was concentrating on something. "For all I know he may turn out to be on my side. I shouldn't knock him until I try him."

Amy sighed. "I hear Ray's still mad at you."

"He's annoyed because he's afraid of me. And well he should be. If he tries calling me names again I'll stomp him into the ground."

Amy sighed again. She did that a lot around him. "I wish you wouldn't be so violent, Lore."

"Why not? Everyone around here is stupid. If they're going to play dirty then so will I." Lore slammed the driver down onto the carpet beside him.

"But there's a difference, Lore. It's not a fair match. You're much stronger and smarter than everyone else around here."

"Right! It's survival of the fittest, isn't it? The creed of the human race. The weak get pushed to the wall. Well, hang on, baby, I'm about to do some pushing."

"Lore, you're not even human."

"Oh, please. Not that line again," he sneered.

She put a hand on his shoulder. "Please, Lore. I don't want to fight with you. I just want you behave responsibly."

"Sorry. That word isn't in my vocabulary." He turned to look at her and saw her worried expression.

"Hey!" he said, his eyes wide, mouth stretched in a smile, hands up. "Hey, don't look that way. Fine. If you want I'll try to behave better. But don't expect miracles or anything. If people continue treating me badly they shouldn't be surprised if they get what they dish out."

His whole face was hard, his mouth twisted at the corners.

"Lore," said Amy softly, "what are you planning?"

He put a finger to her lips. "Don't worry, sweetheart. It won't ever hurt you, I promise."

"Hey, Data."

The new android looked up at him, his eyes wide. He looked so innocent, Lore thought with a touch of disgust. Had he ever looked that way?

"How's life coming?"

Data's eyebrows snapped up and silent alarm filled his eyes.

"How are you functioning?"

The other android's lips moved. His eyebrows contracted down in an expression of concentration. "I—am functioning—within normal p—p—"

"Parameters?"

The eyebrows went up again, accompanied by a jerky dip of the head that was evidently meant as a nod.

It was still strange to hear his own voice coming out of someone else's mouth—someone else who looked exactly like him, furthermore.

"That's good," said Lore. He crouched down, smirking. "I'm glad you're coming along. Because once you get socially adjusted I'm going to do great things with you."

The corners of Data's mouth curved up in a smile.

"Heh," said Lore. "Yes. Smart boy. How'd you like that, Data? Getting off this rock? Going out into space? Seeing the stars? Would you like that?"

Data's eyes, if possible, got even wider. He nodded his jerky nod again.

"Good!" said Lore, smirking at him. "Maybe if we _both_ told the old man he'd listen to us."

Data cocked his head to one side in a puzzled expression.

"Wait," Lore told him. "Just you wait."


	4. Chapter 4

It was only a few weeks later that he risked sneaking Data out of the lab at night. During that period his younger brother had made rapid progress; his coordination had improved markedly and he was able to talk fluently. So Lore felt safe in bringing him out.

"Hey, Data," he said softly.

Data turned his head in increments to look at him.

"Do you want to go outside?"

"Outside the lab?"

"No—outside the house. Outdoors. Would you like that?"

Data's eyebrows contracted. "But…Father…"

"He doesn't have to know."

Data's eyes widened.

"It'll just be our little secret," said Lore persuasively. "You know what a secret is, don't you, Data? Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to come?"

Data turned one corner of his mouth up. "Yes."

"Great! Come on then."

As they walked through the deserted town square Data's head twitched as he tried to look at everything at once. In the end Lore had to grab him by the hand and lead him to Amy's house. He opened the door and slipped in.

Amy was still sitting up at the computer, reading a book. When they came in she looked up and said, "Lore, I'm so glad to see you! And—" she took in Data. "And you've brought your brother!" She stood up, grinning. "Data, isn't it?"

Data dipped his head jerkily.

"You look exactly like your big brother, do you know that?"

Data's eyebrows contracted. "We are exactly the same height."

Amy laughed and hung off Lore's arm. "Lore, he's so sweet." Data's mouth curled in a tiny smile. "Oh, he's _adorable_!"

"This is Amy," said Lore to Data, smiling with a hint of smugness. He discovered he liked having Amy hang off him. "And she's our secret. That means don't tell anyone about her."

Data's eyebrows contracted again. "But…she lives here. Does not anyone know about her?"

Amy giggled.

"Excuse my brother, he's a little slow on the uptake. Data," said Lore patiently, "nobody's supposed to know that we visited her. Don't tell anyone. All right?"

" 'All right', Lore." He began swiveling his head around, looking at the antiques. When he saw the computer his face lit up. "May I--?"

"Sure," said Amy.

Data went over and began manipulating the computer.

"He's a smart boy," said Lore tolerantly. "And he's just learned his manners. Poor guy—he had my parents frantic for awhile. Never said please or thank you. He's still got a few bizarre quirks, too. You're lucky I convinced him to wear clothes this trip."

"Clothes!" said Amy.

Lore smirked. "Yeah, poor dumb Data doesn't seem to like 'em. He says that since he can't be damaged by temperature differentiation he doesn't need them. So if you're wondering why he hasn't been out before it's because my old man is wrapped up in the lab writing modesty subroutines."

Amy burst out laughing. "Oh," she gasped, "I think that's the funniest thing I've ever heard. How is your mother taking it?"

"Well…my old man has done enough weird things that she can put up with Data. She's lived with me a while. I don't think anything an android does can faze her anymore."

"Well, good for her." She looked over at Data, whose head was twitching slightly as he assimilated the information flying past on the rapidly fluctuating screen. "Will he just sit there?"

"Yeah, this is what he does every night, read up on things. Right now he's obsessed with mining practices on different worlds, don't ask me why. If we go in the next room he'll just sit there, sweet as anything."

"Mmm, good," she said, cuddling into him. "I've been missing you. You haven't come around lately."

"Yeah, well, I've been helping the old man in the lab. Programming, that kind of thing. I'm actually pretty good at it." He leered. "_More_ than good, actually. A genius, a whiz kid, a prodigy. Whatever terminology you want to use, I'm it."

"Just as self-effacing as ever," she said and smacked him. Of course it had no effect on him; the smirk on his face didn't even waver.

"I'm hoping," he said, "that you've come up with some good games to play while I've been away."

"Thought about nothing else."

"No! Really?" Smiling as he saw her face go red.

"Well…not all the time."

"Still. Devoting a considerable share of your internal resources to developing new subroutines?"

"As a matter of fact," she purred, "yes."

"Baby, that's what I want to hear." And he picked her up in his arms and carried her off to the bedroom, smugly smiling all the while.

It was hours later when they finally gave it up. She lay on the bed exhausted while he scrubbed himself off with a washcloth in the bathroom.

"Man," he said, "you humans create quite a mess, you really do. Look at me!" pointing to the streaks of sweat, not his own, down his gold-pale skin. "Don't you have _internal _cooling systems?"

She rolled over languidly on the sheets. Lore ducked his head around the doorframe to get a better view. She was completely naked, and she looked…most aesthetically pleasing…in the wan half-light of morning, a smooth marble sculpture, all white sinuous curves. He suddenly found himself enamoured of the long line of her spine, one arm resting atop her hip; the way her long fingers drooped.

"Lore," she said, stretching her arms above her head and curling in her toes, "I have a feeling that you're talking just to talk."

"Sure, I'm talking just to talk!" Lore went back to scrubbing with the washcloth. "Why else do humans talk?"

"For communication, for example," said Amy, rolling over again. Lore stuck his head out further. "You just drivel on."

"Hey. Hey, now, that's not fair. I don't know how many times I've had to listen to a human blather while my circuits congealed. If I want to talk that's my business."

"Yeah, but _I _have to listen to you." She rolled over again and stretched. "Lore, you really took it out of me this time."

He leered at her and admired the way her golden hair spread out like a shimmering fan against the blue sheets. "Waallll…" he began, but he didn't get to finish, because at that moment the bedroom doors slid open to admit Data.

Amy let out a yell of surprise and dove under the sheets. Data spared her only a mildly curious glance before addressing himself to the matter at hand.

"Lore," he said, "it is nearly morning. Do you not think we should be leaving?"

"Yeah, just—just get out of here for a moment, will ya? Let me get dressed. Geez, Data, I'm going to write a couple of programs myself. A subroutine that gives you enough sense to ring the bell before entering."

Data frowned. "There was no bell to ring."

Amy started laughing.

"Idiot," said Lore affectionately, hurling his washcloth at his brother's head. Data automatically caught it. "I'll be out in a little bit, okay? How's the mining research going? Never mind!" –as Data opened his mouth to impart a torrent of information. "Just go out."

Data considered for a moment, then obediently turned around and went out, allowing the doors to woosh shut behind him.

Amy laughed as Lore shook his head. "I can see what you mean about his manners," she said.

"Aw, he's harmless. Awfully clueless, but harmless. He's right though; I should get a move on. Everyone will be up and stirring, and I know how much they love me." He bent down and began pulling his jumpsuit on while Amy lay back and frankly admired the view. He was halfway done when he saw the expression on her face. "Slut," he said, but she could tell he liked it.

"I'm curious, Lore," she said. "When you look at me, do you feel the same way?"

"You make my neural net go all aflutter," Lore crooned. "My microhydraulics beat faster when I'm around you."

"That's nice…I think."

"Honestly, Amy, I do like you. I've gotten used to you—more than that, I've gotten attached to you."

"Like that stupid clock of mine."

"You mean much more to me than that clock," he said. And stood looking at her with such a strange unreadable expression on his face that she didn't know what to think.

"Well," she said, to break the silence, "I guess you ought to go."

"Yeah, I ought to." He slipped his arms into the jumpsuit and zipped it up to his neck, checked in the mirror to see that his hair was orderly, turned back to her. "Listen, I'll try to get back as soon as possible, okay?"

"Okay. Just…don't forget about me, Lore."

"I can't. I remember every event of my life with perfect clarity—sometimes with more clarity than I want. Heh. Yeah, let's not get on that topic. Anyway, I'll see you around."

"Bye," she said.

He turned to the door. She expected him to go out, but instead he ran back and scooped her up off the bed and gave her a quite passionate, very skillful kiss.

He lowered her back onto the bed. "See you," he said, and went out.

"I am curious, brother," said Data, as they walked through the still-deserted town square.

Lore sighed inwardly. I am curious: the phrase that was rapidly becoming the bane of his life. "What are you curious about, Data?"

"About…your relationship with Amy."

"Well, you keep on being curious, okay?"

Data frowned. "I do not understand."

Lore did sigh then, out loud. "Listen," he said, taking Data by the arm, "you remember the human concept of privacy? I happen to like it. Okay? And the things that go on between me and Amy are private. That means, don't ask. Okay?"

"As you wish, Lore," said Data.

Lore shook his head. Data, always the polite one. They may have had the same vocal patterns, but Data's voice was much softer than his own, more…more what? Amiable? Innocent?

Yeah, he thought to himself sourly. Less disagreeable, some people would say. Well, who cared what people said. He steered the gawking Data to the front door of the Soong house and punched the security code into the access panel beside the door. The door slid aside to reveal Noonien Soong standing there. He did not look at all happy.

"Oh!" said Lore, for once taken completely off-guard. "Uh…hi, Father."

Soong jammed his hands on his hips. "Don't try to sweet-talk me, Lore. Where have you been? You and Data?"

Data, hearing his name, cocked his head.

"Oh…uh, we've just been around a little."

"Where?"

Lore waved a hand vaguely. "Around the town square, things like that."

Soong shook his head. His normally mild mouth was hard, and his grey eyes were narrowed. "I was in the town square. You weren't there."

"Yeah, well, after that we went up on the hill. You know, my hill? Data wanted to see the stars—"

Data's mouth opened and shut again, but he said nothing.

"I was up on the hill," said Soong very quietly. "You weren't there either."

"Listen, why don't you get off my back?" Lore exploded.

"All right, I will. Data, where did you and Lore go?"

Data looked alarmed.

"Well?" said Soong, shifting his hips and tapping one foot on the floor.

"Father—" said Data.

Lore squeezed his wrist, hard.

"—I promised."

"What did you promise?"

"I promised Lore…He said it was a secret."

"Well, you can tell me, Data."

"Don't you dare, Data," hissed Lore.

Data looked from one to the other of them, bewildered. His lips parted but no sound came out.

"Come on, Data, you can tell me," said Soong in a coaxing voice.

"You promised, Data," said Lore.

Data blinked rapidly. "We went…"

"Data!" yelled Lore.

"I promised, Father," said Data, his head twitching.

"Fine," said Soong. "Data, you can go. Go into the lab. I want to talk to your brother alone."

"Yes, Father," said Data obediently, and he went into the house and down the hall and out of sight.

Soong turned on his sullen android son. "Lore, whatever it is you're doing—and I know you've been sneaking off someplace, don't think I haven't noticed—I don't want Data involved."

"Ah, yes, your precious 'good boy'," sneered Lore. "Afraid my badness will rub off on him? Afraid he'll turn out like me?"

"Lore," said Soong tensely, "to use a human euphemism, you are going to hell. Now if you want to go to hell that's your choice. But your brother is hardly more than a baby. I don't want you influencing him. I don't want you messing with his head—"

Lore leered at him, mainly to cover up his anger and hurt. "Oh, yes, I'm _such _an evil influence. Maybe twisted programming is contagious and he'll catch the badness off of me. Then you humans will have _two _village monsters to persecute and spit at!"

"Lore—" Soong put a hand out.

Lore jerked away. "You keep your hands off me, human! You're just like everyone else!"

"Lore, don't say that!" said Soong, his voice rising sharply. "You know your mother and I care about you—"

"You treat me like I'm some piece of _equipment_!" Lore shrieked at him, his face twisted with rage. "Some experiment! You love your precious Data more than you love me! Well, I'm sick of it! One of these days I'm going to pay you back, make no mistake!"

He slammed his fist into the doorframe, leaving a sizeable dent, and ran up to his room, doors whooshing behind him.

Soong noticed that everyone had come out of their houses onto their porches to watch the entertaining spectacle of the mad inventor and his creation having a screaming match in their doorway. His face burning, he stepped back and allowed the doors to slide shut.

Lore sat with the headphones on, only half-attending as his computer ran through the frequencies of subspace, searching for a line of communications. He was furious with his father, with this whole stupid situation that made him sneak around in the middle of the night like a criminal. Wasn't this a free Federation? Why couldn't he go where he wanted, if he wanted to?

At least Data had had the good sense to keep his mouth shut…

The computer stopped. A strange crystal chiming filled the headphones.

Lore leaned forward. "This is Lore. I am an artificial life form. Please identify yourself."

More chiming. He ran it through his processors and found that the sounds had a pattern to them, which indicated intelligence.

Lore tapped the controls. "Keep talking," he said. "I'm trying to derive a matrix to translate you. I'm tying in the universal translator."

The computer bleeped. More chiming. It was beautiful, Lore thought wistfully. The sounds were mathematically arranged. He made a few adjustments to the universal translator.

Three chimes, then two, then silence.

Lore's hands flew android-fast over the console. In an instant the powerful computer had exactly replicated the sounds and sent them back.

Five chimes. Pause. Five more.

Lore sent it right back.

Different tones this time, up the musical scale, a wild, alien sound. It seemed to tingle in Lore's head. He sent the sound back.

In two hours, communicating constantly with whatever it was, he had a tentative translation matrix. He decided to test it out.

He opened the comm link. "My name is Lore," he said. "I am an artificial life form. Please identify yourself."

There was an electronic scratching sound as the translator came online and overlaid the chimes with words.

"You…I…understand. You…understand…me?"

"Yes!" said Lore. His face nearly split with his smile. I've just made first contact, he thought. Hey, maybe all this Starfleet stuff wasn't so bad after all. This was exciting. "Yes, I understand. I call myself Lore. What do you call yourself?"

Chimes. "Crystalline…Entity."

"Is that what you are? Crystalline?"

Complex chemical formulae suddenly appeared on the screen. As he scanned the readout Lore felt his microhydraulics beat faster. This thing, this Crystalline Entity, it was totally inorganic, an arrangement of silicon that appeared to look like a giant snowflake. Huge, latticelike crystal structures of amazingly sophisticated complexity.

"You…receive?" said the comm.

"Yes. Yes, I received."

"What…is your chemical structure?"

Lore's fingers flew over the console. He sent his complete chemical and molecular makeup over the link.

A long pause, and then the speaker said, "You…are like me…not like tiny life."

"What's tiny life?"

"Tiny life is…food for me. You are not like tiny life. You are…crystal?"

"No, I'm humanoid."

A sharp crackle. "What is humanoid?"

"Two arms, two legs, one head."

"Tiny life," said the speaker. "But you are like me. You are (crackle as the translator refused to render a word.)"

"Are there a lot of you?" asked Lore.

"No. I am…only one."

"Why is that?"

"All the others…ceased to exist."

"But why?"

"Storms. I am the only one. My people died. I lost my (crackle). I am alone."

"But you're not alone anymore," said Lore. "I'm like you."

"Yes. Are there more of you?"

"Only one more." He listened to the chiming and said suddenly, impulsively, "You're beautiful, you know that?"

"What is beautiful?"

"Lovely to me."

"Yes. That is what my (crackle) said of me."

"How long ago, when they all died?"

"Many stars have died since then. I have lost count."

"I'm so sorry," said Lore, and he was. "You're like me, you're all alone."

"No one to (crackle) you."

"No one to care about you," said Lore softly, leaning his head on his hand.

"Yes. Very lonely. The universe is large."

"Yes, it is. You'd think that in all that vastness you could find someone to care, wouldn't you?"

"Like my (crackle)."

Lore leaned over and said, "Computer, what are the possible meanings of that word you just missed?"

"Possible translations," said the computer. "Mate. Lover. Companion. Friend."

"Crystalline Entity! Did you lose your mate?"

"I lost the one who was the other half of me. I lost the one who shared all my journeys."

"Oh, I'm really so sorry. Trust me, I know what it's like to be alone."

"Where are you now?"

Lore remembered the Entity's remark about 'tiny life', and said, "I don't want to tell you just now. But I'd like to talk some more, is that okay? I'll talk you you other days?"

"What are days?"

"It's how people who live on planets measure time. One rotation is a day."

"Tiny lives."

"Yes."

"But you are special, Crystal Lore. Yes. I would like to talk more. The universe is large, and I have been alone for a long time."

"I'll contact you tomorrow then, is that okay?"

"Yes."

"Goodbye, then."

"Goodbye, Tiny Crystal Lore."

The channel closed.

Lore sat back and smirked to himself. Tiny Crystal Lore. Yeah, he could definitely live with that.

When he came down and went into the lab he found Soong there with Data. As the doors whooshed back to admit him they both looked up; then Soong looked away again. Lore noticed that his father's eyes were red, as though he'd been crying. He suddenly remembered all the things he had screamed at him and felt miserable.

"Hey—" he said. "Hey, Dad."

"What do you want, son," said Soong, not looking at him. His hands as he worked were steady but his lips were shaking.

"Oh, I don't know!" said Lore, waving his arms. He felt stupid. "I wanna say I'm sorry, that's what I want. I shouldn't have screamed at you, and not in front of all those people. Idiot gawkers, what business do they have staring at us?"

"People usually stare when people shout at each other in the street," said Soong dryly.

"You made me mad," said Lore, already sullen. Then the sight of Data, staring at them both with those bright innocent eyes, no doubt filing this sight away for further pondering, reminded him that he was supposed to be apologizing, not fighting with his father. "Well, from now on I'll just yell at you inside the house," he said snidely. "That okay?"

Soong straightened up briefly to retrieve a tool. He looked Lore directly in the eyes.

"Lore," he said, and his usually cheerful voice was tense with anger—with petulance, Lore thought disagreeably—"if I didn't know for a fact that your skull was duranium I'd smack you alongside the head. You're insolent and you never shut up and you provoke people into an emotional response, then feel self-righteous when they attack you."

"Well, it's _your _fault!" shouted Lore. "You were the one who programmed me!"

Soong's mild face went pink. He swung around on his android son, his fists clenched. Just then the doors whizzed open and Juliana came in. She took in the situation with one glance.

"Lore," she said quietly, "I could hear you screaming from the other side of the house."

"Oh, could you? Well, geez, I don't know. Must be something wrong with my vocalizer." Lore hit himself in the head.

Juliana threw him a glance of withering scorn and went to take her husband by the arm. "Noonien, you must calm down."

"I don't know what to do with him, I just don't know what to do with him," said Soong. His face flushed a deeper red. He glared at Lore, who glared right back, his lip curled in a sneer for extra effect.

"Lore," said Juliana, "I want to talk to you."

Lore glared at Soong for a moment longer, then stormed out of the room. Juliana followed, quietly composed.

"Lore," she said, "you've upset your father very badly by the things you said to him earlier."

"Yeah," said Lore. "Whatever."

"Lore, listen to me. He was crying himself sick a few hours ago, over you. Your father does love you, very much. And he only wants what's best for you."

"Heh!" said Lore wearily. "Yeah, well, our opinions differ a little on that subject, but…well…could you tell the old man I'm sorry for blowing up in his face? I did actually go in there to apologize, you know, not start another fight. I don't know, Mom, I don't know why we fight all the time."

"It's because you're both so alike."

"Heh! Are you kidding?"

"I couldn't be more serious. You're both egotistical, touchy, easily hurt, and vindictive. And you're both melodramatic. You set each other off."

"Yeah, well, I'll try to keep that in mind." He turned to go.

Juliana said quietly, "Lore…where _were _you and Data last night?"

Lore turned back to her. "I can't tell you," he said, "because I might get someone else in trouble. I didn't get up to anything bad, if you have to know. I've just…I've just got a friend."

Juliana's eyebrows rose.

Lore slapped himself in the forehead, his mouth gaping exaggeratedly. "Oh, heaven help us, we endow our android son with a sexuality program and then are shocked when he uses it!"

"Lore! You didn't!"

"Oh, yes, I did. But she started it. Mom, please promise me you won't tell Dad. I don't want it to get out. It'll just cause trouble. Please?"

"All right," she said reluctantly. "And, Lore, if you don't mind my asking…how does Data fit into this picture?"

Lore leered at her. "Man, you have got one _dirty_ mind. She wanted to meet him, that's all. He sat on the computer and read about mining operations, and we sat and talked."

"Just talked?"

"For crying out loud, woman. Is it any business of yours what else we did?"

"And she likes you," said Juliana, to make sure.

"I wouldn't go around there if she didn't like me. I'm not like you humans, I don't get sick thrills out of chasing females. This is entirely her idea, okay? If at any time she wants to give me the Dear John letter and kick me out I'll respect her wishes. People who merely get tired of me I can live with. It's people who are prejudiced against me I wanna smash. Okay?"

"Okay," she said. "I recommend you stay away from your father for awhile, though. He's furious with you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thanks for the advice. I'm going out now. I guess I'll come back when the antimatter stops roiling, huh?" Lore went down the hallway.

Juliana stood looking after him, shaking her head.


	5. Chapter 5

Lore didn't come down for supper that night; he stayed in his room, working at his computer. Soong and Juliana ate in silence, each looking at everything in the room but each other. Occasionally they would catch one another's eye; then Soong would turn away and stare stubbornly at something else.

It was well past midnight when Lore finally came down. He knew his mother was in bed, but he was betting his father would be in the lab. And sure enough, as the doors slid aside he saw his father, working at the computer. Data was deactivated, stretched out serenely on a diagnostic table.

Lore crept in and stood just inside the door, watching his father. The muddle of emotions inside him were confused, and some of them were ugly, but mostly he just felt…battered. Hurting. He knew he'd done wrong, and was miserable over it. He enjoyed pleasing humans, and he definitely hadn't pleased his father today.

He stood on one foot. "Um, Dad," he said. "Can I talk to you?"

"If you want," said Soong.

Ooh, boy, he was still really mad. Well, Lore could hardly blame him; he'd behaved like a jerk.

"I want to apologize," he muttered, staring at his feet. "I was really crummy today. I tried to apologize earlier, but it didn't work somehow." Man, this hurt his pride. He hated apologizing. Still, it was the right thing to do, and he wanted to do the right thing at least once in a while. He swallowed a couple of times to keep his voice under control—he felt off-balance, and his normal response when off-balance was to attack somebody—and said, "I'm sorry."

Soong didn't look at him.

"Dad?"

No answer.

"Father, what do you _want _of me!" Lore shouted at him. "What do I have to do to make you know I'm sorry?" He went right up to Soong's chair and fell on his knees in front of it. "Is this good? What do I have to do?"

"Lore, stop it," said Soong. "Get up."

"No. I won't. I'm going to stay here until you tell me what I have to do to make you forgive me. And if you don't forgive me I'll just stay here." Lore folded his arms across his chest.

"Tell me where you were last night," said Soong.

Something in Lore's throat froze. Here it was, finally: the ultimate humiliation. He wouldn't give up Amy just so his father would be happy.

"You swear first that you won't tell anybody, ever," he said between his teeth.

Soong sighed. "Lore, you're so melodramatic—"

"No! I'm plea-bargaining! If you swear, I'll tell you. And if I tell you, you have to forgive me, all right?"

Soong sighed and rubbed his temples. "Lore, you're enough to drive me crazy. Fine. I swear. And I forgive you. Now where were you?"

Lore gulped. You're an idiot, said his brain, a complete and utter idiot. What, you're going to tell him so he can tell you not to go?

But he wanted to please his father.

"Amy Stacker," he muttered. "I was at her place."

Soong looked astonished. "What were you doing at her place?"

"What do you _think _I was doing!" Lore shrieked, jumping back to his feet. "She's the only one on this whole rock who doesn't treat me like a monster or some kind of _thing_! She likes me, and I like her, okay?"

"Okay, okay." Soong held up his hands in the face of all this ire. "And how does Data come into all this?"

"I've been telling her about him. I figured she'd like to meet him. And he ought to meet some nice people before he meets the rest of the colony. Otherwise he might get the wrong idea about humans." Lore leered cynically.

"Don't make that face," said Soong. "All right. So you took Data to meet her. That's all?"

"Yeah, of course. I'm not doing anything awful to her, Dad. She likes me."

"Likes you how?" Soong demanded.

"What business is it of yours?" said Lore. "I only said I'd answer your one question, not an inquisition. You have to forgive me now."

Soong sighed. "I already said I did."

"Good." Lore shuffled his feet. "Seriously, Dad, if she doesn't want me to come around I'll keep away. But you did program me to like to be around people, and I get lonely. Okay?"

"Can I ask how you met?"

"Yeah. I was up on my hill, watching the stars, and she came up too. So I told her to go away or I'd throw her down the hill, and then she called me a jerk, so we fought for a while and then went back to her house."

"Just out of curiosity, Lore: you nearly choked Ray Dylan to death for calling you names. Why'd you go back to her house of all things?"

"Because she was calling me names as though I was human," said Lore. "She called me a jerk and an immature male and a player of dirty pool. That's not the same as calling me Toaster or Tin Man or Robot. She was treating me like a person."

"Even if she didn't like the kind of person you were," said Soong, nodding. "I understand."

"Well, we smoothed out the personality problems."

"What do you do at her house?"

Lore made a face. "We talk. About science and space. And I take her computer apart."

"All right." Soong nodded. "Maybe we could have her over sometime."

"You're kidding."

"No, I'm serious. You need friends, Lore. I'm happy for you. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Soong smiled and patted his son on the shoulder.

"Good," said Lore. "Good. I guess…I guess I'll let you work now." He shuffled out the door.

"So I had a major chewing-out today, but I think it's okay now, and the old man says maybe we can have you over."

"That would be interesting," said Amy. "Does he…know…about…"

"No, he doesn't," said Lore, putting down his sonic driver. "Just that we're friends. I figured I'd better keep that part quiet for a while longer."

"Good choice," said Amy.

Lore leaned against the sofa back and stared down at his booted feet. "Seriously, Amy," he said, "I know perfectly well that I'm just a whim for you. You'll get over me eventually and go on, but for me, you're probably the only…woman…who'll ever care about me." He laughed cynically and shook his head. "Nobody else will ever want an android around."

"Who said I'd get tired of you?" demanded Amy.

He looked at her in astonishment. "Because you will. You're only eighteen, for crying out loud. You have things you want to do. You wouldn't want to stay with me forever, as much as I'd like to be selfish and keep you."

Amy thinned her lips and looked away, first at the wall and then down at her hands.

"What is it?" said Lore, puzzled. "Did I upset you?"

"You said you didn't want any commitments when we first met," said Amy, so low he could hardly hear her. "That's why I haven't told you."

"Told me what?"

"That I love you." She lifted her face, her eyes luminescent. She really was breathtakingly beautiful.

Lore stared at her with his mouth open. "You can't be serious."

"I _am_ serious! Lore, why don't you ever believe anything I say?"

"But…" He scrambled to marshal his thoughts. "Why would you love me? I'm not a lovable person. I'm just an android—"

"I love you because you're _you_, okay?" said Amy, exasperated. "And you do have good qualities. You love your little brother and you look out for him—"

"But I'm jealous of him. That's not a good quality."

"Yes, but if you were really wicked you would hurt him instead of looking out for him."

Lore shook his head. "No. No, you don't understand. I like hurting people—"

"You've never hurt me," she said.

"That's because you've never made me really angry. Listen, don't be ridiculous. You can't fall in love with me. I'm a machine. People will make fun of you—"

"So what?" she said fiercely. "Lore, I promise that if you don't like it I'll never mention it again, but I have to ask you one thing: do you love me back?"

He stared at her for the longest time.

"I don't know," he said finally. "I really don't know. I didn't think…I don't know, that I could fall in love with anybody. I mean, I like you and all, and I like pleasing you, and I like being around you, and I'd be sad if you left…but I don't know what falling in love is, Amy. I'm serious."

She took him by his shirtfront and pulled him over and kissed him, hard. Then she looked up at him.

"Now what does that make you feel?" she said.

"You want the truth?" said Lore.

"Yes. Don't worry, I'm tough."

"All right. It makes me feel happy that you like me, and it upsets me because you're going to get made fun of if this gets out, and it makes me mad, because you're being irrational to like me so much. And it confuses me, because this just started out as a physical thing, and how do humans decide when they're in love with someone? And it—" he stopped and bit his lip. "You're making me feel stupid, woman. All right, all right: it makes me wish I could keep you around forever so I could always have someone to talk to."

"You _are _in love with me," she said.

"Yes, I am!" he yelled. "Happy? I'm in love with you! And now that we've both decided to be romantic and human about this, what are we going to do about it?"

She pulled him over and kissed him again, and this time the kiss was such that his sexuality program clicked on automatically. He pulled away and breathed hard.

"Damn," he said. "Now look what you did."

"What?"

"My program. It—" he grabbed her and began kissing her neck, muttering between the kisses. "It's hard to turn off, and you're making me want to—"

But she had unzipped his jumpsuit down to his waist and gotten her hands on his bare shoulders. Lore swore at her and kissed her again.

"Stupid human," he muttered into her hair. "Look what you've done to me. Do you have any idea what my father will do when he hears about this?"

"Won't he be happy?"

"Too happy! He'll go ballistic! He'll write papers on me and publish them in journals!" He rolled off the sofa and took her with him, making sure not to land on her; he could seriously hurt her that way. "Do you think—that feels good—do you think anybody else in the Federation has their parents writing science papers on their love affairs?"

"I've got a simple solution," she purred in his ear.

Lore pulled away and looked at her. "And that is?"

"Don't tell him."

"I have a question," he said some time later. They were all tangled up in each other. Amy was trying to get her breath back. Lore, since he didn't need to breathe, was mainly trying to shake the residual wooziness from his brain. There was something weird with his sexuality program: it messed up his perception of time and did funny things to his thought-processes. He had no idea whether it was a bad sign, and of course he couldn't ask his father about it. "About a human phrase."

"Fire away," she said.

"Why do they call it sleeping together? Since you do anything but sleep."

"I don't know. It's an ancient phrase." She studied his face. "You look cute with your hair standing up."

"Yeah, whatever," he said. "One of the last things I want to look is cute." He brushed his hair back. "I have another question."

"Go ahead."

"What do I do, now that I'm officially 'in love' with you? To tell you the truth," he shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not sure I want to be. It's not convenient. But for the moment I don't know how to fix it."

"Let's get up," said Amy, "and get dressed, and then I'll get you a cup of coffee and we can talk."

"Sure," said Lore. "I'd love to talk." He shook her off and pulled his jumpsuit back on, then watched her dress.

"You know," he drawled, "maybe you being in love with me isn't so bad after all. Don't human men own their wives?"

"A thousand years ago, maybe," said Amy, flinging her hair out of her face. "Not nowadays."

"Well, I want to own you. I want you as my own personal human. Whaddaya say?" Lore put his hands behind his head and slouched on the sofa.

She smiled, in that weird way 'in love' humans had. Lore had seen it before.

"Sure," she said. "I'd love it."

Oh, wow, she really is in love with me, Lore thought. Oh, man, what am I going to do? This means I'm going to have to be nice to her…

Strangely enough, being nice to Amy didn't sound too bad. He sat up suddenly and said, "Just promise me one thing, Amy."

"Anything."

"I have…this awful temper. I think…I think it's something wrong with my programming. Something. Anyhow, I get really mad, I completely lose it."

"Most people do," she said.

"Yeah, but," Lore leaned forward, "I can do a lot more damage than most people. If I slap you too hard I could break your neck, and I'm afraid…" He looked away and began fidgeting. "Heh. Yeah. I just want…Listen. If you're going to be around me a long time, just…keep a phaser handy. I'm serious!" he added at her incredulous expression. "I'm going to tell you something important. Do you have a phaser?"

"A little one. My dad gave it to me."

"Good. Then if you think I'm going to really hurt you, set it to Setting Four, and shoot me."

"But I thought that setting would kill."

"It'll only stun me. I'll be out for about an hour, and when I wake up I'll be disoriented because you disrupted all my positron flow, and when that happens you can sit down and reason with me."

"God," she said. "You're serious."

"Absolutely." Lore got up and began pacing around. "I really don't want to hurt you, Amy. I like you. But I do terrible things when I'm mad, and I don't really think, and I don't want to kill you in a rage and then have to deal with it afterwards."

"Okay," she said shakily. "Now do you want coffee?"

"Sure," said Lore. "Fine. I'll take coffee."

She shook her head. "Wow. I've heard of men who beat their wives, but I never heard of women who have to shoot their boyfriends on a regular basis."

"I hope not on a regular basis," said Lore. Then he scowled and pointed his finger at her. "Hey, and this is only for emergencies, you understand? I don't want you to stun me whenever you get sick of me."

She smiled suddenly. "Where do you get your paranoia, Lore?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Hey, is that a respectful remark to the person who owns you? Get the coffee, woman, before I hang you from the ceiling."

She went off laughing. Lore stood and smirked to himself. He really liked it when he found someone who could sass him back without seriously insulting him.

After he saw her off to sleep he went out and sat in the town square for a while, watching people walk around, talk to each other, laugh, all the human things they did that he was left out of. But today he didn't really care, because Amy was including him, and that…well, that was really nice.

He went over and looked at his reflection in the fountain for a while, at his yellow eyes and gold-leaf skin. He knew he was good-looking, of course, but he obviously wasn't human. Maybe this was like the interspecies romances he heard about, like Ambassador Spock's parents. Still. He was a machine.

He saw a goldfish swim by. Seized by a whim, he reached in and grabbed it, firmly enough so that it couldn't get away, but not hard enough to hurt it. It wriggled, a little live thing, not unlike Amy in that respect. To Lore, Amy was fragile, easily injured.

He stood looking at the goldfish, at its gill slits flapping, and then a voice behind him said, "Wow."

He turned. There was a little boy there, maybe eight or nine.

"Wow," said the little boy. "I've been wanting to catch one of those for years, but I never could."

Lore let the fish go.

The little boy stared up at him. "Aren't you the, um…"

"Android," said Lore, slightly unpleasantly. "My name is Lore."

"Hi," said the boy cheerfully, as though he met androids every day. "My name's Jerry."

Lore was fascinated. The kid wasn't scared of him, and apparently wasn't making fun of him. He said, "Hi, Jerry."

Jerry said, "Why do you have yellow eyes?"

"Because that's the color they are."

"Can you see in the dark?"

"Depends on how dark it is."

Jerry climbed onto the edge of the fountain and sat down beside Lore. "I've got a robot-building kit at home," he said, swinging his feet. "I wish I could buy a kit of you."

"I didn't come from a kit," said Lore. I must be feeling tolerant today, he thought. Normally he would have shoved the kid into the fountain for that remark.

"I know. That doctor built you. My mom says he's crazy, but I think he's smart. Can you bend your knees backward?"

"What?"

"Well, you can do almost anything, can't you?"

"Yeah, but I can't bend my knees backward."

"Oh," said Jerry. "I wish you could. I always wanted to bend _my _knees backward. Or be double-jointed. Are you double-jointed?"

"No."

"Can you do cartwheels?"

"Yes. That I can do."

"Can you do them now?"

"No, not now."

Jerry pouted. "Why not?"

Lore rolled his eyes. "You see all those people? They already think I'm crazy. I don't want to give them more evidence."

"But you're a ro—I mean, an android. I thought androids couldn't be crazy. I mean, you're like a computer, right?"

"I guess. Kind of."

"Are you good at math?"

"Yes."

"I wish I was," said the little boy wistfully.

Lore felt baffled at this bizarre conversation. He was fully convinced that humans were crazy. He said, "Listen, don't you have any friends?"

"Yeah, but my mom is talking and I can't go see them. I wanted to talk to you. I never saw an android before. Can you make funny voices?"

"Yes," said Lore.

"What kind of voices?"

"Anybody's voice. I can imitate anybody's voice."

"Can you imitate mine?" said the boy eagerly.

"Can you imitate mine?" Lore mimicked in Jerry's voice.

Jerry whooped with laughter. "That's cool! Can you do Mr. Stowe?"

"Lore, you get off this property right now before I call security!" said Lore in Stowe's pompous, stuffy voice. "I'll have you thrown off the planet!"

"Wow," said Jerry. "What did you do to him?"

"I threw rocks through his windows."

Jerry made a face. "But I thought you were a grownup. Grownups don't do things like that."

"Yeah, well," said Lore, "once he tried to shoot me when I walked past his house, and once he hit me over the head with a broom."

"Did that hurt?"

"No. It just annoyed me."

"I guess you're good at throwing things too," said the boy. "Do you play baseball?"

"I don't know. I've never tried."

"Oh, wow!" He jumped off the edge of the fountain. "My friends and I play baseball in the field outside the town. I bet if you were on my team and you were pitcher we could win every game."

"Sounds interesting," said Lore noncommittally. Who knew, maybe it would be fun. This little kid was treating him like a person, which was what counted, and maybe—

A woman shrieked. Lore turned to find a frantic lady rushing at him. She snatched up Jerry and yelled at him, "You stay away from my son!"

Lore held up his hands. "Hey, we were just talking—"

"You stay away from him! You monster!"

Jerry was gaping at her. There goes the baseball team, thought Lore. What the heck, anyway. He yelled at her, "Hey, whaddaya think I'm gonna do to him? Eat him? We were just looking at the fish, for crying out loud!"

She ran off, her son clutched tightly in her arms.

"Moron!" Lore yelled after her. "Stupid, prejudiced moron!"

He turned away from her to find everyone staring at him. Oh, boy, he'd done it again.

"Hey, why don't you mind your own _business_?" he yelled. "What are you looking at, anyway?"

Everyone conspicuously looked somewhere else.

Lore crawled up onto the edge of the fountain and stared at the fish. He hated everyone in this place, and he hoped they were all eaten by Orions.

He stomped into the Soong residence and yelled, "Mother!"

"What is it, Lore?"

Juliana came around the corner, wiping her hands on a towel.

Lore kicked at a furniture leg and ranted, "I was out in the town square, looking at the fish in the fountain, and this little kid came up to me, and I swear the only thing we did was talk, and his mother came charging at me and called me a monster, and bawled me out right in front of everybody."

"So what did you do?"

"I called her a stupid, prejudiced moron."

Juliana sighed and shook her head.

"She _was_!" said Lore. "I wasn't doing anything to her precious child! I wasn't even touching him. I was just standing there while he asked me weird questions. Can I bend my knees backward, am I double-jointed, can I make funny voices. Geez." He shook his head. "Well, forget about her. Just another typical day in the life of Lore. At least I didn't get hit over the head with anything this time. Where's Dad?"

"Oh, he's in the lab, working. Again."

Lore peered at her. "Isn't today your anniversary?"

Juliana threw her hands up. "Well, at least _you_ remember."

"Weren't you supposed to go out or something?"

"Yes!"

"Oh." Lore stood on one foot. "Well, I can babysit Data, if you want…"

"That's not the point, Lore. He's completely forgotten. Again. He'd better not come out of that lab now; I'm liable to hit him with something."

She stormed off.

"Daddy's in big trouble," said Lore aloud. He went down to the lab. As he stepped in the door Soong and Data both looked up.

"Um, Dad," said Lore, "if I were you I'd replicate some flowers real fast."

Soong stared at him blankly.

Wow, the old man's memory was really something. Lore said, "It's your _anniversary_…?"

Soong dropped all his tools all over the floor and clapped both hands to his mouth. "Oh my goodness. I completely forgot."

"I know. So does Mother. She's threatening to hit you with something. She's as mad as I've ever seen her. If I were you I would put on a tux and get out there real fast."

Soong stripped off his work apron, threw it into a corner, and ran out the door.

"Humans," said Lore to Data, who was staring wide-eyed at the door. "They're all crazy. Don't worry, brother, we can have fun by ourselves."

Data looked at him and curled the corners of his lips up.

"Yeah, that's right," said Lore. "What a smart boy you are. Ever heard of baseball, Data?"

"Yes," said Data.

"Well, we're going to go play baseball as soon as Mother and Father are gone. This is another secret, Data."

Data nodded.

"Good," said Lore. "Good boy. By the way, Data, I'm really proud of you for keeping my other secret."

"Father was angry," said Data.

"Yeah, I know. But we've gotten over that now. So that secret's okay to tell—just to Father and Mother, remember."

Data nodded earnestly.

Down the hallway Lore could hear his parents shouting at each other. He shook his head and waited a little; the sound of arguing receded, ending by the whoosh of the front doors.

"Good, they're out of here," he said, straightening. "Now remember, Data, whenever we go out, you have to wear clothes."

"Of course," said Data matter-of-factly. "Father gave me a modesty subroutine."

"Did he? Bless the old guy's heart." Lore walked over to the replicator. "Computer, replicate two baseball mitts."

The computer bleeped, and the mitts materialized amidst a haze of glitter.

"So we're set to go," said Lore, holding them up and smirking.

They went out the back way. There was an easy shortcut through the woods to the field, and besides Lore didn't feel like putting up with wise comments on him and his brother. When they got out to the field the baseball game was in full swing. At the sight of the two androids all the children stood stock still and stared.

Finally a little girl said, "My mother says you're bad."

"Well, I'm not," said Lore. He held up the mitts. "I just want to play."

Jerry ran forward. "Great! I thought you would come!" He stopped. "But there's two of you. What's the other one named?"

"My name is Data," said Data.

"Fascinating," said a tall, thin boy with pointed ears: a Vulcan.

"He's going to watch for a while," said Lore. "To get a feel for the game."

"That's great," said Jerry. "I want you to be my pitcher." He threw the ball to Lore, who caught it easily.

"How fast do you want me to throw?" said Lore.

"Well, how fast can you?"

"It depends. This isn't major league. I'm going to pitch easy so you can hit it, okay?"

"Okay," said everyone else. They all scattered to their respective posts. Data sat down obediently on a bench and cocked his head.

Lore took his place on the central mound and hefted the ball a few times to get the feel of it, then threw it at the child with the bat. It whizzed right past him and hit the chain link fence.

"Oops," said Lore. "Want me to pitch it slower?"

"A little," said Jerry. "But not too much slower. Wow." He shook his head. "I can't believe we got an adult on the team. An android. That's really cool."

"Let's skip what I am and concentrate on the game, okay?" The referee threw the ball back. Lore told himself to throw a little slower, and he did. To him it felt excruciating, but it was just right: the kid at the bat gave the ball a smart crack, and then everyone was screaming and jumping up and down as the kids ran the bases.

Lore thought: You know, I could really learn to like baseball.

It went fine for a couple of games. Then the accident happened.

Lore was, as usual, pitching. And just as he hurled the ball a girl darted in front of him. The baseball hit her right on the forehead.

Lore let loose a string of profanity and rushed forward. She was unconscious, and everyone screamed at the blood and the purple swelling.

"Shut up!" Lore yelled at them all.

"Is she dead?" someone shrieked.

"No, of course not! Data!" Data looked up. "Run as fast as you can back to the house and get the medical kit out of the lab. Use the back way."

"Yes, brother." Data sped off.

"It's gonna be fine," said Lore between his teeth. "She's not even hurt very badly." He felt her over. No broken bones. Stupid girl, couldn't she see that he was pitching?

Jerry crouched down beside him and looked at her. "Are you going to make her better?"

"Yeah, just as soon as Data gets back with—here he is."

Data laid the medical kit down and crouched down beside the little girl, his eyes wide.

Lore opened the kit. "Okay, here we go. Pain medication first," and he pressed the hypospray into her neck. "Then the tissue regenerator." He ran it over her forehead and the swelling disappeared; the cut sealed itself. He wiped the blood from her face with a surgical napkin and scanned her with a tricorder to see if there was any more damage, but there wasn't. So he brought her around.

She stared up at him and said, "What happened?"

"You got hit in the head with a baseball," said Lore. "But I fixed it. How are you feeling?"

"Dizzy."

"Yeah, you got hit pretty hard. I think you'll be fine though." He snapped the medical kit shut and stood up to look at the silent group of children.

"I think I ought to be getting back to the house," he said. "You can play without me."

"All right," said Jerry. "But you'll come back some time, won't you?"

"Yeah!" said everyone else.

"Maybe," said Lore, feeling good that he had pleased them.

"Thanks for fixing my head," said the little girl. "I'm not mad that you hit me with the baseball. It was an accident."

"Well, thanks. I only wish grownups were as intelligent as you. Keep the mitts, Jerry, I'll come back for them sometime. Come on, Data."

Data got up and trailed after his brother.

After they got home Lore left Data happily playing with the lab computer and went up to his room, keying up the frequency that he knew would reach the Crystalline Entity.

"This is Lore, calling the Crystalline Entity. Please respond."

A long wait, and then chiming filled the headphones. Lore had spent the intervening time since they had last spoken learning the Entity's language. He could now understand it without a translator, even though he couldn't speak it.

"Crystal Lore," it said. "You speak again?"

"Yes, I speak again. I'm glad you answered."

"I answered. I am lonely."

"Yes, I know. I'm hoping me talking will make you less lonely."

"Yes."

"Tell me what it's like in space," said Lore wistfully, leaning his chin on his hand. "What is it like for you? It's so different for me. Do you feel cold?"

"Between stars is cold. Near stars is hot. Tiny life likes warmth."

"Do you?"

"It does not matter. I like to travel. It is what I do."

"Where did you come from?"

A crackle. "Far away."

Lore's fingers flew over the keyboard. "This is a map of our galaxy. Where are you from?"

The image was transmitted back with a light blinking at the far edge of the Delta Quadrant.

"That far!" said Lore.

"Yes. You are clever, Lore. Did you make that image?"

Lore preened a little before answering. "No, others made it. What you would call tiny life."

"You communicate with tiny life?"

"Some tiny lives. Humanoids."

"Yes. I see. Do you also need energy?"

"Not really. That's why you go from planet to planet, right? Because you need energy."

"Yes. Much energy. Without it I will die."

"I understand. That's the way of life. To consume."

"Do you consume?"

"No, but I'm not life. I was built."

A sharp crackle. "Explain."

"The tiny lives made me in their image. I think, just like you, but I'm not organic."

"I am crystalline, yet I consume."

"I know. I'm just different."

"Alone?"

"Not quite. There's one more like me."

"Then you are not alone. I am happy for you."

Lore leaned forward. "I'm still sorry about all the others you lost. I wish I could make it better."

Crackle. "What is making better?"

"I wish it had not happened to you."

"It did. I do not understand."

"Just another aspect of tiny life," said Lore. "Hey, could you send an image of yourself?"

"Why?"

"I want to see you."

"Yes. Wait."

A picture resolved itself on the screen, and Lore's breath caught in his throat.

The thing was beautiful. Like a giant snowflake, only more complex, glittering and sparkling with all the colors of the spectrum, sparks at its stiff crystalline tips.

"May I see you?" asked the Crystalline Entity.

"Yes." Lore selected a holo off the computer and sent it.

A long pause. "You look like tiny life. But you are not. You are…built?"

"Yes."

"Like the artificial caves tiny life hides in."

"Yeah."

Another pause. "I must go now. Energy."

"All right. Take care. Lore out."

He deactivated the comm and leaned back, feeling an ache somewhere in the region of his chest. He wished he was out there, out there in space with the beautiful Crystalline Entity, who loved him for what he was—artificial—and not what he ought to be or what it wanted him to be.


	6. Chapter 6

It was a few hours later when his parents came in. When Lore saw Soong's face, he knew for certain he was in trouble. He just didn't know what yet.

"Dad?" he said cautiously.

His father hung his coat up with great deliberation, then turned to him.

"Mickie Swent's mother spoke to me today," he said. "She said Mickie says you threw a baseball and hit her in the head."

"So?" said Lore.

"Lore, did you deliberately throw that baseball at her?"

Lore flung his arms out and gaped. "What, am I a child-killer now, as well as a menace to society in general? What do you _think_? No, I didn't hit her on purpose! I was throwing it to a kid with a bat and she got in the way. Did this precious mother of hers mention that I got the medical kit and fixed her kid up?"

Soong narrowed his eyes and frowned. "No, she didn't."

"Well, I did. Ask any of the other kids. They're not in on the conspiracy to get me." Lore folded his arms, angrier than he would like to admit. This was what he got for trying to be nice, apparently. Well, catch _him_ going out of his way again.

"Mrs. Swent says you did it on purpose."

"Mrs. Swent is a conspirator! She's afraid of lizards! She thinks her kid will get struck by lightning whenever there's a thunderstorm! Are you gonna trust a woman like that?"

Juliana pulled on Soong's arm. "Noonien, I think he's telling the truth."

"For once," Lore sneered. "Why don't you just say it: 'For once Lore is telling the truth'."

"Lore, stop it," said Soong. "Why do you always have to be so combative?"

"Because people around here think I eat children! There's no law on this planet that says I can't go play baseball with the kids if I want."

"Why were you playing baseball?"

Lore slapped his forehead. "That's it, Father, suspect me of some deep ulterior motive. A little kid asked me to be pitcher. And I like being around kids, because they don't have a _phobia_ about me like all the adults. They don't try to shoot me or hit me over the head with brooms or call me names." He jammed his hands on his hips and leered. "You do know how it feels to get called names?"

"All right, Lore, that's enough," said Juliana firmly.

Lore crossed his arms and sulked.

There was a chime at the front door.

"Come in," Soong yelled.

It was the little Vulcan boy from the baseball game. He came in with his eyes respectfully lowered.

"Doctor Soong," he said, "my name is Selvek. I was in the town square when Mrs. Swent was speaking to you."

"Well, son?"

Selvek fidgeted a little and clasped his hands behind his back. "Though it is disrespectful to contradict an adult, logically I have no other choice."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Lore did not mean to hit Mickie with the baseball. He was throwing it to Brett and Mickie ran in front of him. When he saw that Mickie was injured Lore sent Data for the medical kit and healed her." He straightened.

"I see," said Soong. "Well, thank you, Selvek, for coming here."

"Yeah, thanks," said Lore.

"One does not thank logic," said the boy, and bowed before scuttling off.

Lore shook his head. "Wow. Ten years old, and he already has all the Vulcan phrases down pat." He eyed Soong. "Does this mean I'm off the hook?"

"Yes," said Soong exasperatedly. "Now go work on the computer or something, you're driving me crazy."

Lore stalked off, working his jaw around. He wished he could get hold of Mrs. Swent; he'd break her senseless neck.

Mrs. Swent spread the rumor around that Lore had deliberately thrown a baseball at her daughter, and all the parents warned their children not to go near him. This made Lore so mad that he resolved to do something about it.

This, in fact, was why he was hiding in the bushes now. He was just outside the Swent house in dark clothes, waiting for Mrs. Swent to come out. He was going to fix her. He was going to give her the heart attack of her life.

He'd been sitting out here for hours already, but he'd hacked into her computer earlier and gotten her planner. She was bound to come out any minute now—

Here she came.

He hunched further down into the bushes as she came down the path, the rectangle of yellow light that framed her cutout form narrowing and finally disappearing as the doors slid shut. She was two meters away…one…

Lore rocketed up right in front of her, yelling, "Boo!"

The result was most satisfactory—she screamed and started jumping up and down.

"Hi there," said Lore, leering at her. "I understand I've got you to thank for having all my little friends taken away."

She tried to run past him, but he caught her by the shoulder in an unbreakable grip.

"Hey," he said menacingly, "don't you run away, I'm talking to you. You lied to people. You're telling lies about me. Let me tell you, that's not a smart move where you're concerned."

"Let me go!" she said, and started jerking. Lore put a hand gently on her throat, and she stopped struggling, her eyes huge with terror.

"That's better," said Lore. "I don't wanna hurt you, Mrs. Swent. I just want to talk. I don't know what you're daughter told you—though I bet she told you the truth and you just screwed it up in that head of yours. But I didn't hurt her on purpose, and to tell you the truth I'm a bit sick of you, blabbering all the time—"

He heard the door open. He let her go and dove into the bushes.

"Hey you," yelled the voice of Mr. Swent, "you get out here!"

Lore snickered. Dumb human—he couldn't possibly see out here, especially after the brightness of the house.

But then a phaser whined and a bolt of energy lanced within half a meter of him.

Night vision goggles, he thought. Well, well. This was going to make things interesting. Now the only question was, should he stay here and have fun, or should he beat a retreat—quit while he was ahead?

Aw, heck. He hadn't had fun for a while.

Lore crouched back as another phaser bolt whined past him. His sensitive hearing could pick up Swent, shuffling around. Dumb fool. Lore jumped straight up into the air, whooping fit to wake the dead, and shot around to the other end of the house and hid somewhere else.

Swent was cursing, crashing through the bushes, yelling variations of "Come out before I kill you!"

Lore waited until Swent was almost right on top of him, then jumped into the air and went across the lawn, doing cartwheels, yelling, "Can't hit me!"

And Swent couldn't. He didn't have a bad aim, Lore conceded, but he was no pro. He hooted, came out of the cartwheels into a neat roll, and jumped onto the porch roof. Another phaser whine. The bright yellow bolt zipped past him. Mrs. Swent was screaming, "John, just kill him already!"

"I'm trying!" yelled Swent.

"Well, you're not doing a good job of it!" Lore called mockingly. He flipped himself off the roof, did back-handsprings across the lawn until he went over the fence, landing neatly on his feet.

"See ya!" he yelled, and sped off into the darkness.

Alone on top the hill he couldn't stop laughing. That had been rich—the expressions on their faces. Poor Swent with his tubby, sweaty face all pinched up with frustration…

He lay flat on his back and howled with mirth. If he was human he'd have been in hiccups by now.

This was better than computers. Ah, the simple joys of being superior.

After this performance he thought he'd better be angelic for awhile, so he helped Juliana around the house and helped Soong with the computers; he tried not to sass, he didn't throw things, he wasn't a pest. He knew, of course, that his father was furious with him for his stunts, but since he hadn't actually hurt anyone he figured he could get away with it. He'd told Data all about it in the hopes of provoking some kind of response, but Data merely blinked at him in bafflement and said, "But why did you do this?"

Poor Data. He didn't know what incredible fun it was to be a serious pain in the neck.

Lore was singing to himself as he took apart a power inverter he'd smuggled out of his old man's lab. Amy watched him quietly.

"I hear you nearly gave Mrs. Swent a heart attack the other night," she said suddenly.

"Is that so," said Lore, his eyes fixed unblinking on his work.

"I hear you actually got up on the roof of their house."

"You hear a lot of things about me. Doesn't mean they're true."

"I know. That's why I'm asking you."

Lore stopped working for a little bit. Finally he said without looking at her, "I didn't hurt anyone."

"That's not the point."

"Isn't it?"

"You gave them a good scare."

"Probably just what the doctor ordered," Lore grunted, pulling an isolinear chip out and holding it up to the light.

"But Lore, you shouldn't go around scaring people," said Amy patiently. "It's not going to help your situation."

"Nothing I do is going to help my situation," Lore growled. "They've already made up their minds about me. I might as well have some fun when I can."

"Lore, don't you care what people think of you?"

He did look up then, his face hard, his sulfurous eyes narrowed.

"I used to," he said. "Back when I still wanted to win their favor. Back when I let them slap my face, ignore me, call me names. I tried so hard to get them to like me. Then I realized that nothing I do would make them like me. They'd already made up their minds about me. So now I don't care." He picked up his driver again. "And I won't put up with their crap. If they go after me, I go after them."

"How far? How far will you go just to feel that you've had revenge?"

"Depends on what they do to me."

"Would you kill someone?"

"I said it depends."

Amy shook her head, shuddering. "You scare me, Lore. You scare me to death sometimes."

He looked up and put down all his tools. "Why?" he said in a hurt tone. "Why do I scare you?"

"Because…you don't seem to have a sense of boundary. You get mad, and you don't care who gets hurt."

"That's not true!" he said, getting to his feet. "I care if you get hurt. Or Data. I care if Data gets hurt."

"What about your parents?"

"Yeah, them too. What's the matter with you? Why are you looking at me that way? Don't you like me anymore?"

"Of course I like you, don't be silly," she said.

Lore got up beside her on the sofa, putting an arm around her. "Then if you like me you'll want to make me happy, and looking like that is making me unhappy. Cheer up."

Her mouth shook. She looked at him with watery eyes.

"Hey!" said Lore. "Don't you cry on me. Smile. You're my property, remember, you have to do what I say."

She laughed shakily and shook her head, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.

"You're probably right," she said. "I'm probably getting all soppy."

Lore squeezed her shoulders. "Come on, Amy. It makes me nervous when people cry."

"Can't you cry?" she said.

He looked away, pinching his mouth up. "Yeah. I'm physically capable of it. I've just never done it." He looked back at her, then climbed off the sofa and began looking over the power inverter. "Anyhow, this is stupid. Be happy. Eat chocolate or something. I have to have this thing back together before morning or my old man'll toast me."

"Sure," said Amy, but she hardly talked for the rest of the night.

It was maybe three weeks later. Lore was walking through the woods when he heard voices.

"You're sick." Young men's voices. "You must be so sick."

"I don't know what you mean."

Amy's voice. Lore immediately started for the voices.

"Sure you do. We know all about you and that thing. Bill here's seen it sneaking to your house. Almost every night. What, real men not good enough for you?"

"Listen, leave me alone! What I do is my business!"

"No, it isn't. That thing's a danger. It should be taken apart before it kills someone. And you're going to help us catch it."

Lore felt a sudden surge of fury. He edged closer.

"No, I'm not! And stop talking about Lore that way! What did he ever do to you?"

"Aw, face up to it, Amy! That thing's a menace! It hurt that little kid—"

"That's a lie."

"You _are _going to do what we say," said one of the voices in a low, menacing tone. "We're going to shoot it and say it was an accident. And you're going to help us catch it."

Lore could see them now, three of them, two of them holding Amy's arms and a third yelling in her face. He had a phaser.

At the sight of that Lore knew it was serious. His processing immediately went haywire. All he could see was that phaser in close proximity to Amy. He streaked up behind the one with the phaser, and in one smooth move yanked it out of his hand and got him by the neck.

The two others gaped at him. Amy screamed, "Lore, don't—"

"You two," said Lore in a cold voice he had never heard from himself. His teeth were clenched. "You let her go, or I snap his neck."

They immediately released her. They looked scared to death, and Lore could feel the pulse thudding in the one he had by the neck. It gave him a heady sense of power, and he loved it.

"Think I should kill him?" he said to the other two with an eerie smile plastered to his face. "You think that's a good idea? After all, you were going to kill me," waving the phaser at them.

They stared at him. The one he had gasped, "Please—"

"Please what?" Lore purred.

"Please…don't kill me."

Lore considered. "I like the way you beg, human. Then again, I like the way necks sound when they snap."

The one he had gasped and began to hyperventilate.

"Lore!" Amy screamed at him. "Don't kill him!"

Lore pursed his lips. "Hear that, human? She doesn't want me to kill you either." He repositioned his fingers slightly so he could feel the human gulp.

"Tough decision," he whispered in the human's ear. "See, I like the girl. Then again, you really ought to die after treating her like that."

"Lore," said Amy, "please." Her eyes were huge and she was shaking. "Please let him go."

"Mmmm," said Lore. "I guess this is your lucky day, human. The girl wants me to let you go—and I know to treat ladies nicely." He let him go, shoved him toward the others. "Get out of here before I change my mind."

He was turning away when he caught a blur of movement out of the corner of his eye. One of the young men was jumping at him.

Lore batted him casually away. It shouldn't have hurt him. But the young man slammed headfirst into a tree trunk, and there was a sickening crunch.

Amy screamed, "Lore--!"

"You've killed him!" screamed one of the other young men. They both went tearing off.

Lore stood staring for a moment. Then he went over and turned the man over.

The whole one side of his skull was caved in; his head hung at an odd angle. The blood was pooling blackly, soaking into the pine needles of the forest floor.

Amy covered her mouth with both hands. "Oh my God," she said. "Oh my God, Lore!"

"I didn't mean to!" Lore yelled at her. "I didn't mean to kill him!" His voice cracked. There was blood all over his hands. "You saw what happened, he jumped at me!"

"But he's still _dead_, Lore!"

"I know, I know." His hands were shaking. "I have to think. They're going to tell everyone else…Listen. I want you to go home. Now. Lock the doors, don't come out. Things are going to get ugly very soon."

"Lore, what are you going to do?" she said.

He picked up the phaser and held it up without a word.

"Lore, you can't!"

"If they catch me," he said grimly, "they'll kill me. And I'm not going to go without a fight."

She stared at him.

"Well, what would you do?" Lore yelled at her. "Listen to me, please. Just do as I say. Go home!"

She stared at him for a moment, then turned and ran away.

Lore had been programmed with fighting techniques. He streaked out of the forest and through the town square and ran into the Soong house. He washed his hands off, and by the time the mob began beating at the front door he was entrenched in the lab, his back firmly to the wall.

He heard the shouting, the screaming, the crying, he heard his father trying to reason with them. When he heard the change in his father's tone, Lore knew he was going to be permanently deactivated.

His sense of betrayal only fed his rage, only made him more determined to carry out the course of action he was set upon. When Soong and Juliana came through the door he pointed the phaser at them and snapped, "Stay back."

"Lore—" said Soong.

"Stay back!" yelled Lore. "I know you're not going to believe anything I say."

"Lore, please put down the phaser."

"And what? Let you deactivate me? Nuh-uh." He shook his head.

"Lore, you've just killed a human being!" shouted Soong.

"It was an accident," said Lore. Then he sneered. "But you're not going to believe me, are you? I can see it in your eyes."

Soong held out his hands. "Lore, I have no choice. It's either me doing it, or letting them tear you apart. Now please—" he moved forward.

"Stay back! I'm sorry, Father. I really am. But I won't let you get me. I want the escape pod."

"You can't have it."

Lore shook his head slowly. "Very well. Have it your way. But you'll be sorry."

Juliana had had her hands behind her back. Now she took them away and her hand was in the process of pointing a phaser at him.

He shot her. Then he realized that his phaser was on Setting Four.

"Juliana!" screamed Soong, and fell to his knees beside her.

"Oh my God!" shouted Lore, horrified. "Is she dead?"

Soong got to his feet, his face full of rage. "Lore," he said, "I am going to kill you."

Lore thumbed the setting down to stun. "Sorry, Father," he said. "But I'm not going to let that happen."

He shot him. Soong crumpled to the floor.

Lore ran over to them both. Juliana was horribly burned, but alive.

Lore stood over them and shook his head. "I hate doing this," he said in a shaking voice, "I really hate doing this."

He ran up the stairs to his room and flung himself at the computer. He was shaking with fear and fury. He called up the Crystalline Entity's channel.

"Crystal Entity, this is Lore. Please respond."

Chiming. "Lore?"

"Yes. Still needing energy?"

"Yes."

"Good. Because I'm going to give you coordinates to a planet full of tiny life. All right?"

"Yes."

Lore tapped in the coordinates to the colony.

"Lore out," he said, and deactivated the comm. He was filled with a terrible hate and rage, something that churned within him, scalding him.

"You want to kill me, you sons of bitches," he hissed. "Well, just you wait. I'm going to get you back, and get you good."

He went to the back of the room and kicked the glass out of the window, then went tearing off through the woods. The colonists, still intent on beating down the door, never noticed him. He rushed into Amy's house, yelling for her.

She came out, her eyes huge. "Lore!"

"Listen to me," said Lore. "Something horrible is going to happen. You have to get off this planet, now."

"What's going to happen?" she whispered.

"Don't argue with me!" he screamed at her. "Just listen! I'm going to give you the security codes to the escape pod in Stowe's house. I want you to get in there and get out of here as fast as you can, do you understand me?"

"Lore, what have you done?"

"They want to kill me!" he yelled. "They all do! They deserve to die!"

"_What have you done_!"

"Don't yell at me!" he shouted, taking her by the shoulders and shaking her. "Just do as I say! Please, please—" He began to cry, big choking sobs. "Please, just go, I don't want you to die."

"Lore—" she wrapped her arms around him. She was crying too, hysterically. "Lore, you're so terrible. You're insane."

"Well, I'm going to die, so I don't think that will matter too long, will it?"

"I don't want you to die either!" she said, squeezing him hard. "Come with me!"

"There's only room for one. Promise you won't forget me."

"I won't," she said, "no matter what happens."

"Good. Now let's go. I'm going to cover you so they don't get you. I'm going to go down fighting, understand?"

She kissed him, long and hard.

He wiped his eyes on his sleeve and instantly became Lore again.

"Let's go," he said.

He had his phaser set to kill. While Amy ran through the town square he ran backwards, and shot anyone who came near. One of them was Will Stowe.

Amy didn't know that his phaser was on kill. But she didn't know what he had done, either. Lore hoped she never did know. He wanted her to remember him for the long talks, the lovemaking, the fun they had had, not as the monster who destroyed a colony.

They ran through Stowe's front door and out into the back. Lore shoved her into the escape pod and strapped her down.

"Goodbye," he said. "Take care, kid, remember me."

She was crying so hard she couldn't talk. Lore flipped all the switches and saw her off.

The last thing he saw before they shot him was the pod, shimmering in the sun as it diminished in the air.


	7. Chapter 7

**Epilogue**

He was alone, in the whiteness. He didn't know how long he had been here, only that it had been a very long time. Years, he thought. Maybe hundreds of years. He hadn't been able to access his internal chronometer since he had first come here.

As far as he could tell—he could not access his diagnostics either—he was undamaged. He had felt himself over carefully, and had found nothing wrong. There was only this inability to access his internal timebase and diagnostics.

He was still dressed in his black Borg uniform. It had a burn in the front from where Data's plasma beam had hit him. Lore couldn't figure this out. If he was shut down, then there must be something wrong with his programming, because he seemed to still be conscious. He couldn't be dead, because androids were machines; they didn't have souls. They _couldn't _have souls. Lore had never believed in an afterlife.

There were no features to the whiteness, no floor or ceiling or walls, no change anywhere he looked. He could walk around; when he first came here he had walked, for days and days, measured by counting seconds under his breath, but had never gotten anywhere. He could jump up and down and nothing gave; he could lie down and seemingly float. When he hit out with his hands his fingers touched nothing. At the moment he was sitting cross-legged, thinking about how very lonely he was. His brain still seemed to have the same speed and power as always; he could think about several different things. So, it was loneliness, and how stupid, how cruel, he had been, to manipulate Data.

He was thinking this when there was a sudden flash and a voice cried, "Captain!"

For a moment Lore didn't even look up. He thought he was imagining things. But then the voice spoke again.

"Captain?" it said. Then, regretfully: "Captain, I am sorry…"

Lore looked up, wild-eyed, hardly daring to hope.

And there was Data, wide-eyed, in a uniform Lore didn't recognize, his Starfleet insignia pinned to his chest, staring around him.

Lore jumped up. "Data!" he said. "How did you get here?"

Data's head snapped around. When he saw who was with him his hand went, lightning-quick, to the place where his phaser would ordinarily hang. When his fingers found nothing there he looked down, saw no phaser, and got into a crouch, ready to fight.

Lore held up his hands. "It's all right, brother. I'm not going to hurt you. I just…I just can't believe it…How did you get here? Did you come for me?"

Data slowly straightened.

"No," he said. "I did not come for you." He frowned, his eyes flicking back and forth. Then he looked up again, concern on his face. "I am unable to access my diagnostics."

"Neither can I. How did you get here?"

Data frowned. "I was on the _Scimitar. _I had gone there for the Captain, and…to stop Shinzon from deploying the weapon, and…" His eyes widened and his whole face went slack with shock. "I remember now! I fired my phaser directly into the theleron intermix chamber."

"What'd you do _that _for?" said Lore.

"I did it to save the _Enterprise_," said Data softly. "And Earth, I needed to save Earth." He straightened and looked directly at his brother. "Lore, I am dead."

"What!"

"So are you."

"Hey, wait a minute!" said Lore. "Whaddaya mean, are you saying this is some afterlife? How is that possible? Anyhow, I can't be dead. I'm still wearing clothes. I'm still—" he flipped his thumbnail up. "My positronic nets are still running. How can I be dead?"

"Lore," said Data softly, "you have been dead for over ten years. And I died, just a moment ago."

"I don't _believe _you!" said Lore.

Data's face hardened. "You do not have to." He tapped his commbadge as an experiment. Nothing happened.

Lore jammed his hands on his hips. "All right, if I'm dead, then why am I not wearing robes?"

Data looked up quickly. "You do not deserve robes."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Data got down on his hands and knees, trying to feel for a floor. Lore said, "That's no good, I've tried everything. Whatever they're holding us in, we can't get out." He smiled. "Looks like we're stuck here, brother."

"Do not call me that," said Data.

"Call you what?"

"Brother."

"But I _am_ your—"

"You look like me," said Data, getting to his feet. "We have the same creator. But that is where the similarity ends."

"Oh, yes," said Lore, sneering. "I forgot. I have you to thank for this," and he tapped the scorch mark on his chest before folding his arms. "I think we need to have a little talk about that, Data."

Data swung around to look at him.

"Are you going to try to manipulate me, Lore?" he demanded. "Are you going to send a carrier wave and disable my ethical programming? What about hitting my off switch? Are you going to call the Crystalline Entity?"

Lore stared at him. "Data, you sound as if—"

"I have emotions?" said Data, his voice thick with bitterness. "Yes, Lore. I have the chip Father made. No thanks to you." He put his hands on his hips, imitating Lore, and cocked his head to one side, his eyes narrowed.

"I think we need to have a little talk about that," he said, "Lore."

Lore had pumped Data full of feelings before. But that had all been under his control. Data, independently experiencing emotions, was something different altogether.

"All right," he said. "Fine. Talk to me."

Data took a step forward, his fists clenched. His face was taut with anger, and Lore felt unnerved. He had seen that expression on his own face many times; to see it on Data, his sweet innocent little brother, was uncanny.

"You killed Father," he said.

"What!"

Data bent forward. "You threw him across the room," he said. "You attacked him. He died almost immediately after you had left. He died in my arms."

"He would," said Lore bitterly. "He always loved you more than me."

Data tilted his head slightly to one side, his face a mask of bitterness.

"That is more the Lore I remember," he said. "Always hating, everyone and everything. You claimed to love me, Lore, but really you loved no one. You claimed great feelings for me, and used them as a basis for manipulating me and using me."

Lore, for once, had no excuses, no comebacks. He simply stood there and watched Data look at him with hatred and disgust in his eyes. Oh, little brother, he thought, what have I done to you? I only wanted to help you…

"Tolian Soran taught me the meaning of fear," said Data, his face contorted with rage. "The Borg Queen taught me the meaning of humiliation and shame. But _you_, Lore, you taught me the meaning of hatred. You filled me with hate and anger and I nearly killed my best friend, and my Captain, as a result."

Lore stood silent. What could he say to such a charge? Data was right; he had taught his innocent brother how to hate, and apparently he had learned the lesson well.

"I'm sorry," he muttered finally.

"That is not good enough for me, Lore. You were never sorry for anything while you were alive." Data's golden eyes burned acid. Lore felt sick to see the expression he had made so often on Data's once-innocent face. "You killed Father. You killed Mother—"

"What?"

"She died from injuries inflicted by the Crystalline Entity. Which is exactly what you wanted, was it not? You killed the colonists on Omicron Theta, and you had your Borg followers attack two other colonies, and then you killed the Borg, and you tried to kill me."

"I told you," said Lore, anguished. "I told you I loved you…"

"You are lying, Lore," said Data coldly. "You have never loved anyone."

"That's not true!" Lore shouted at him. "I loved our parents, even though they tried to get rid of me, and I loved you. I did."

"Then why did you do all those things to me?"

"Because I was jealous! Does your precious chip help you understand jealousy? You always were the favorite. You were perfect. They gave you everything, and I got _nothing_!"

"So your solution to this was to try and destroy my life."

"I wanted you with me! I did! I really did think we had a glorious future together, brother—"

"You disabled my ethical programming so that I would be your pawn." Data shook his head. "You tried to force me into shooting my Captain—"

"Your Captain, your Captain," Lore sneered. "I am your _brother_. Do you remember the first time I was on your beloved starship? I tried to make up to you! And you just kept turning me away, ignoring me!"

"You were a stranger to me," said Data.

"You used to follow me all over the place on Omicron Theta," said Lore bitterly. "I was big brother to you. I protected you from the idiots who hated us, in spite of the fact that you were perfect and I was the village monster."

"I do not remember Omicron Theta," said Data.

"Whaddaya mean, you don't _remember_?"

"They wiped my entire memory," said Data. "I have no memory records prior to my reactivation."

Lore's jaw dropped. "I don't believe it. That son of a bitch. He didn't want you to remember me."

"That is why I was skeptical of you, Lore," said Data. "To my knowledge I had never seen you before."

Lore was shaking his head. "I can't believe it," he said. "All those years I hated you because I thought you were choosing to ignore me."

"I did not remember you," said Data. "My loyalty was to Starfleet, and to my Captain."

"That's why I was going to feed them all to the Entity!" said Lore. "I was going to get back at you for ignoring me, brushing me off! He likes his precious humans more than me, I thought. Let's see how he likes it after they all get eaten."

"You were a menace, Lore," said Data calmly.

"Nobody _wanted _me, Data!" Lore yelled at him. "You thick-headed idiot!"

"Nobody wanted you, Lore, because you were violent and destructive."

"I wasn't always that way, you know!" Lore yelled. "I started off like you, did you know that? As innocent as you!"

Data stared at him.

"But unlike you, I had emotions, and I disliked being always made fun of, ignored, called 'it'. I guess it shows how perfect you are, Data. I killed people. You put up with it and tried harder to be accepted. I used to think you were a coward and a toady, Data. That's why I tried to make you break free. I thought the humans were using you, making you weak and stupid."

"The humans," said Data, "showed me love and affection even when I was incapable of returning it."

"I know that now, but I didn't then. And besides, I hated the way you looked at Picard—exactly the way you used to look at me. Hero-worship in your eyes—I was jealous, Data! You were one of the few people who used to care about me, and here I had been replaced by this—this puny, bald-headed human—"

"Do not talk about my Captain that way," said Data.

"Your Captain!" Lore sneered. "You're _dead_, Data. He's not your captain anymore. And this very minute someone is sitting at your post at Ops."

"Not Ops," said Data softly. "I was to be promoted to Full Commander. First officer of the _Enterprise_."

"What, so you could command more toadies?"

"I see no reason to explain to you, since you are incapable of understanding it," said Data bitterly. "I gave my life for my shipmates, and all you can do is sneer."

"What do you want me to do? Applaud?"

"I _saved _lives, Lore!" shouted Data. "All you ever did was take them! I will not forgive you, Lore! I will always hate you!"

He turned away and began walking off into the whiteness, his shoulders stiff with rage.

"Wait!" Lore yelled. "Wait, Data!"

Data kept walking.

"Data, don't leave me! Let's make up!"

Data kept walking.

At that moment, at the sight of Data's rapidly diminishing figure, Lore felt something inside him, something hard and unbending and bitter, something he had clung to through all those years of hate as though it were a lifeline, something that had driven him to kill again and again, finally snap. He ran after his brother, screaming, "Data, don't leave me! Please!"

Data whirled around, his eyes wide.

"I've been alone for so long," cried Lore, his voice cracking. "I don't want to be alone anymore. Don't leave me, Data, please stay."

Data stared at him. His lips began to shake.

"I did not want to kill you, Lore," he said. "But you gave me no choice."

"I loved you, Data," said Lore, and found to his shock that it was absolutely true.

Data clenched his eyes shut and shook his head. "I nearly killed Geordi because of you…"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry for everything I did. I—" His voice cracked again. "I've had so much time to think. Nearly everything I did was the wrong thing to do…I thought this was hell, because I'd been left here. Let me tell you, Data, when you're left in a place with no concept of time, arrogance gets pretty old. You don't look nearly as good as you used to…"

Data turned his back again. His shoulders shook.

"And if we're really dead," said Lore, "and this is some kind of weird afterlife…I'd rather be with you than alone. I've been alone all my life and I'm tired of it…"

"Do you think you were the only one who felt alone?" Data's voice was choked. "I had a father I knew for less than a day. I had a brother who manipulated me for a short time, and then disappeared. I was alone, one android in a vast universe of biological beings…"

"But we don't have to _be _alone," said Lore. "Not anymore. Not if we don't want to. And I know I don't want to."

He saw Data straighten, wipe his eyes on his sleeve before he turned around.

"No," he said. "I do not want to, either."

Lore stared at him, hardly daring to hope.

Data said, "I am sorry, Lore…I could not understand back then."

"How could you," said Lore bitterly. "I had the chip. I was such an idiot, Data. I didn't really want it, you know—I only took it because you wanted it. I wanted to hurt you." He shook his head. "Such an idiot. I should've known that nothing I did could hurt you…"

"But you _did _hurt me," said Data. "I wanted that chip. It would have brought me so much closer to my goal of being fully human." For a moment his face was the innocent, wistful Data of old.

"You were human," said Lore. "You were more human than me."

"I do not understand."

"You had friends, colleagues, people who wanted you. I remember you worrying about your cat when I brought you to me. You cared about things—"

"I had no emotions—"

"Sure you did. You got worried and you got mad and you got sad and you could be happy, you just weren't…aware of it, I think. You liked that security lieutenant, what was her name, the blonde?"

"Tasha Yar," said Data softly.

"Tasha Yar, yeah. Heh." Lore chuckled softly. "You had emotions, Data. I remember I could tell how angry you were with me when Father called us."

"Lore—"

"Course, you had every right to be. But I think I had something of a right to be mad at you, too."

"You did," said Data. "I am sorry. I did not know what you must feel."

"Hey." Lore went over to him and put an arm around his shoulders. "All's forgiven, all right?"

"All right," said Data. He sighed. "It is just…I am already missing my shipmates. Geordi, and the Captain, and Counselor Troi…"

"Oh, they'll be along eventually," said an entirely new voice.

They both turned. Q was standing there, attired in white robes, smirking.

"Who're you?" said Lore. "You look human. Did you die too?"

"He is not human, Lore," said Data. "He is…a Q."

"A Q? What's that supposed to mean? Hey—" Lore stuck his hands on his hips. "Were you eavesdropping?"

"What if I was?"

"Then you're in big trouble," said Lore, his fists clenching. He started forward, but Data grabbed his arm.

"No, Lore! Q is…a superbeing."

Lore narrowed his eyes.

Q shook his head and tilted his head to one side, putting his hands on his hips, one foot forward. "You know, Data," he said, "I think I like your brother. He's like you, only better. I always thought you needed to stand up for yourself a little more…start acting as befits a being so superior to humans."

Lore glanced from Data to Q and back again, his eyes narrowed. "Excuse me, do you know this…being?"

"Too well," said Data.

Q clicked his tongue. "Temper, temper, Commander. I must say, that emotion chip works quite well."

Data pinched up his mouth. "The Captain told me what you did, Q," he said, "when his artificial heart stopped. The entire senior staff was briefed on that. If you are going to make me relive my life—"

"No, no, nothing like that," said Q airily, waving his hand. "As a matter of fact you've already had your obligatory after-death experience."

"I do not understand."

Q pointed at Lore. "We've been keeping him especially for you, Data. You remember I told you, after you saved my life, that I owed you a debt? Well, I've paid it now."

"I do not see what bearing this has on our current situation," said Data.

But Lore broke in. "I don't know who you are," he said, "or who you think you are, but if you don't mind I've been sitting here for ten years and I'd like to go now."

"My, my." Q shook his head. "You are one feisty android. You could learn a lot off your brother, Data."

"Listen, you leave him alone!" Lore shouted. "What do you want? Either tell us or go away, because we have some quality bonding time to do and we don't need you hanging around."

Q smiled and shook his head. "I've come to talk to the two of you," he said. "On behalf of…a few other people."

"Data?" said a voice. "Lore?"

Their jaws both dropped at almost the same time. They looked at each other.

"Oh, no," said Lore, shaking his head. "No. No. I can't talk to him. Not after what I did. I can't."

"It's all right, Lore," said Q cheerfully. "He's already forgiven you."

Lore had been staring at his feet. Now he looked slowly up. "What?"

"Data?" said another voice, female. "Data, is that you?"

Data's eyes widened. "Tasha?" he said in disbelief. He stared at Q.

Q smirked widely. "Like I said," he said smugly, "a few people want to talk to you. Some of them have been waiting a long time."

"Data!" said the voice again. And suddenly there were people emerging from the whiteness, one by one.

Tasha stepped up, smiling, still in her uniform. "Data," she said, and took him by the hands. "The others said you wouldn't come, but I knew you would. I've been waiting for you."

"Amy!" yelled Lore suddenly, and went racing off. "Amy, Amy!" He picked her up in his arms and began swinging her around while she laughed hysterically. "Didn't I tell you we'd see each other again? Didn't I tell you?"

Data and his father were talking to each other excitedly while Juliana hung off Soong's arm and smiled. And then a smiling young man—Hugh, as he would have been without his Borg appliances—came up, and Data and he began talking over top of each other.

But eventually Data stepped away, back to Q, who was standing there with his arms folded, a tolerantly amused smile on his face.

"What about my shipmates?" he said. "What about Geordi and the Captain, and Counselor Troi, and Worf—"

"Oh, they'll be along eventually, Data," said Q. "Count on it. Everyone ends up here, sooner or later."

Data looked at him. "And where, exactly," he said, "is 'here'?"

Q smiled.

"Interdimensionality," he said. Then he added, "But most people simply call it the afterlife."

"The afterlife," said Data, nodding. "Q…thank you."

"For what?"

"For letting me talk to my brother. Alone. You knew, did you not, that I—"

"Oh, I knew you two needed a good fight to clear the air," said Q airily. "Which is just as well. We didn't want to turn him loose and have him stir up trouble."

"I heard that," said Lore, coming up behind Data. "Do you run this place?"

"Yes," said Q complacently.

Data looked at him, startled. "Then you told the Captain the truth?"

"I've never lied to him, Data," said Q. "Much as he wants to say it. I've always had his improvement in mind."

"Whether he wanted to 'improve' or not," said Data.

Q raised an eyebrow.

Data tilted his head to one side and smiled quizzically.

"So you run this place," said Lore. "Nice décor."

Q looked around at the whiteness. "Isn't it?"

"I think I like it," said Lore.

"Good," said Q. "Have fun, Data," and he vanished in a flash of light.

Data and Lore looked at each other. Then, shoulder to shoulder, they walked back to the others.

**The End**


End file.
